ANIMAL  CHEMISTRY. 


BIOLOGY 

LIBRARY 

6 


•^  WE  OCPT. 

Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1842,  by 

JOHN   OWEN, 
in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  District  of  Massachusetts 


CAMBRIDGE: 
METCALF,    KEITH,    AND    NICHOLS, 

PRINTERS  TO  THE  UNIVERSITY. 


ADVERTISEMENT 

TO    THE    CAMBRIDGE    EDITION 


THIS  edition  of  the  admirable  work  of  Dr. 
Liebig  is  published  in  compliance  with  the 
wishes  both  of  the  author  and  of  the  translator, 
and  is  the  only  American  edition  authorized  by 
them.  It  contains  valuable  matter  which  is  not 
in  the  English  edition. 

There  have  been  fewer  deviations  in  the 
body  of  the  work  from  the  London  edition  than 
were  at  first  contemplated.  After  a  consider- 
able part  of  that  edition  had  been  printed,  it 
was  deemed  advisable  to  introduce  new  matter, 
which,  without  deranging  the  whole  work, 
could  only  be  done  by  withdrawing  portions 
and  substituting  the  new  matter.  Both  the 
portions  withdrawn  and  those  substituted,  to- 
gether with  various  corrections,  and  matter  for 
a* 

6692G2 


Vi  ADVERTISEMENT. 

which  room  could  not  be  conveniently  obtained, 
were  forwarded  by  the  translator  for  use  in  pre- 
paring the  present  edition.  From  these  mate- 
rials alone,  partly  in  manuscript,  this  edition  has 
been  arranged,  revised,  and  printed.  The  editor 
availed  himself  of  the  permission  given  him  to 
incorporate  the  new  matter  in  the  body  of  the 
work,  to  introduce  it  in  the  form  of  notes,  or  to 
omit  it  altogether,  as  he  might  deem  most  advis- 
able, convenient,  or  useful.  He  had  decided  to 
incorporate  the  whole  in  the  body  of  the  work, 
but  on  the  arrival  of  a  complete  copy  of  the 
London  edition,  he  concluded  to  make  as  little 
variation  from  that  as  possible.  Some  of  the 
less  important  materials  were  therefore  not  used, 
and  others  were  condensed  and  introduced  as 
notes. 

After  the  arrival  of  the  copy  of  the  London 
edition,  it  was  found  to  contain  important  er- 
rors, some  in  the  body  of  the  work,  but  more 
in  the  Appendix.  Many  of  these  must  have 
arisen  from  the  distance  at  which  the  translator 
was  from  the  press  ;  and  others  from  the  haste 
with  which  it  probably  became  necessary  to 
finish  the  work  in  time  for  the  publication  of 


ADVERTISEMENT.  Vll 

this  translation  prior  to  the  meeting  of  the 
British  Association  ;  when  an  Abstract  of  the 
original,  was  read  by  Dr.  Lyon  Playfair.* 

Great  care  has  been  bestowed  upon  the  cal- 
culations and  estimates,  which  form  so  impor- 
tant a  feature  in  the  body  of  the  work,  and  in 
the  analytical  results,  which  constitute  the  Ap- 
pendix, —  upon  the  vast  accumulation  of  which 
the  whole  force  of  the  reasoning  depends. 
Without  presuming  that  the  present  edition  is 
perfect,  or  that  some  errors  will  not  be  found 
in  it,  it  is  believed,  that  it  contains  fewer  than 
any  other,  and  the  editor  has  the  satisfaction  of 
feeling  that  no  pains  have  been  spared  to  effectu- 
ate this  object.  Those  only,  who  may  have  lei- 
sure and  patience  to  go  through  all  the  calcula- 
tions can  estimate  the  time  and  labor  they  have 
required.  For  the  ready  and  able  cooperation 
of  Professor  Peirce,  Dr.  Samuel  L.  Dana,  and 
especially,  Mr.  Thomas  Hill  of  this  University, 
in  the  laborious  examination  and  revision  of  the 
tables  and  analytical  results,  the  editor  is  bound 
to  record  his  grateful  acknowledgments. 

*  The  abstract  occupies  two  pages  of  the  Athenaeum  of  July 
3d. 


ADVERTISEMENT. 


The  contemplated  republication  of  this  work 
was,  several  months  ago,  announced  by  Messrs. 
Carey  and  Hart  of  Philadelphia,  from  whose 
press  it  would  undoubtedly  have  appeared  in  a 
manner  acceptable  both  to  the  author  and  the 
public  ;  but,  on  learning  the  wishes  of  the 
author  and  translator,  those  gentlemen  at  once 
courteously  relinquished  their  undertaking. 

The  printing  of  this  edition  had  been  com- 
menced, and,  notwithstanding  the  wishes  of 
those  most  interested  in  the  favorable  reception 
of  the  work  had  been  publicly  announced,  a 
reprint  from  a  New  York  press  made  its  ap- 
pearance, with  all  the  errors  of  the  English 
press,  and  with  additional  ones.  The  friends 
of  Science  and  the  admirers  of  the  indefatigable 
author,  will  regret,  that  any  occurrence  should 
have  diminished  the  hope,  that  the  reception 
of  the  present  edition  would  have  afforded  to 
him  and  the  translator,  grateful  evidence  of 
the  value  and  interest  with  which  the  fruits 
of  the  profound  researches  of  the  former  are 
here  welcomed. 

The  reception  of  Dr.  Liebig's  volume  on  the 
continent  of  Europe,  prior  to  the  appearance  of 


ADVERTISEMENT.  ix 

this  translation,  was  enthusiastic,  and  fully  sus- 
tained the  high  encomiums  and  anticipations  ex- 
pressed by  the  translator  in  one  of  his  letters  to 
the  editor ;  in  whose  opinion  it  would  mark  the 
commencement  of  a  new  era  in  physiology.  In 
translating  it,  he  expresses  himself,  as  having  ex- 
perienced the  highest  admiration  of  the  profound 
sagacity,  which  enabled  the  author  to  erect  so 
beautiful  a  structure  on  the  foundation  of  facts, 
which  others  had  allowed  to  remain  for  so  long 
a  time  utterly  useless,  and  of  the  logical  structure 
and  extreme  cogency  of  his  arguments,  — .  the 
brightest  light  being  shed  upon  almost  every 
point  in  physiology  accessible  to  chemistry,  — 
the  true  path  having  been  opened,  leading  to 
the  anticipation  of  the  most  astonishing  results. 
Dr.  Gregory  undertook  the  translation  at  the 
express  request  of  the  author,  and  from  long 
and  very  intimate  knowledge  of  the  mind  and 
thoughts,  as  well  as  the  style  of  his  friend,  in 
addition  to  his  well  known  acquirements  as  a 
chemist  and  physiologist,  was  peculiarly  fitted 
for  this  act  of  friendship ;  with  the  faithful  per- 
formance of  which  Dr.  Liebig  has  expressed 
his  high  satisfaction. 


Xll  MEMOIR    OF    THE  AUTHOR. 


By  an  Essay  on  the  nature  of  Fulminic  Acid 
(Knallsaeure),  which  he  offered  to  the  Acad- 
emy, he  gained  the  attention  and  friendship  of 
Alexander  von  Humboldt,  who  recommended 
him  to  Gay-Lussac.  That  eminent  chemist 
opened  to  him  his  laboratory,  which  had  never 
before  been  accessible  to  pupils,  and  here  Lie- 
big  finished  his  labors  on  the  fulminic  acid. 
Immediately  after  his  return  from  Paris,  the 
young  chemist,  probably  through  the  recom- 
mendation of  Humboldt,  was  appointed  to  an 
extraordinary  professorship  at  Giessen.  As 
early  as  1826  he  received  the  appointment  of 
ordinary  Professor  of  Chemistry  in  the  same 
University,  and  the  Medical  Faculty  honored 
him  with  its  Doctorate. 

Among  his  independent  scientific  works,  may 
be  mentioned  his  "  Anleitung  zur  Analyse  or- 
ganischer  Koerper,"  (Introduction  to  the  Analy- 
sis of  Organic  Bodies,)  Brunswick,  1837,  and 
his  "  Practical  Pharmacy,"  as  a  part  of  the  new 
edition  of  the  "Manual  of  Pharmacy  of  Geiger," 
Heidelberg,  1839,  which  was  printed  again  as 
a  separate  work  in  1840.  In  partnership  with 
Dr.  Poggendorf,  in  Berlin,  he  commenced  a 


MEMOIR    OF    THE    AUTHOR. 


"  Dictionary  of  Chemistry,"  which  is  not  yet 
completed.  The  chief  organ  of  his  communica- 
tions to  the  public  has  been  the  "  Annals  of 
Pharmacy,"  and  which  is  now,  chiefly  through 
his  labors,  the  principal  journal  for  Organic 
Chemistry. 

Dr.  Liebig  is  without  doubt  one  of  the  most 
eminent  chemists  of  Europe,  and  in  organic 
chemistry  he  may  be  called  without  hesitation 
the  first  living  authority.  His  labors  are  the 
more  important  inasmuch  as  they  are  not  con- 
fined to  researches  in  one  department,  but,  like 
those  of  Berzelius,  embrace  the  whole  science 
of  Chemistry.  His  investigations  of  organic 
bodies  should,  however,  be  particularly  noticed^ 
as  they  have  roused  a  spirit  of  greater  activity 
in  all  who  are  engaged  in  chemical  pursuits. 

Almost  from  the  beginning  Liebig  has  ex- 
ercised in  his  labors  a  very  severe  criticism. 
This  criticism  was  the  more  useful,  as  it  was 
an  experimental  one,  refuting  experiments  by 
experiments,  for  which  he  was  particularly  dis- 
tinguished by  Berzelius  in  his  "  Jahresberich- 
ten  "  (Annual  Reports).  We  must  not  omit  to 

observe,  however,  that  the  severity  of  his  criti- 
b 


XJV  MEMOIR    OF    THE    AUTHOR. 

cisms,  especially  of  his  later  ones,  has  been 
thought  bj  some  to  be  occasionally  tinged  by 
personal  and  even  ambitious  motives. 

The  beneficial  effects  of  the  labors  of  Liebi£ 

o 

were  soon  visible  in  Germany  and  in  the 
neighboring  countries.  The  French  chem- 
ists were  led  to  show  more  respect  to  Ger- 
man Chemistry  than  ever  before,  and  this  re- 
spect is  now  established  in  the  place  of  for- 
mer disregard,  for  "  the  French  now  acknowl- 
edge," as  Liebig  himself  once  remarked,  "that 
Germany  is  the  real  seat  of  public  opinion  in 
chemical  affairs."  —  In  Germany  his  criticism 
wTas  efficacious,  because  it  attacked  with  merci- 
less severity  all  that  was  false,  and  showed  at 
the  same  time  the  right  method  of  coming  at 
correct  results,  and  which  not  only  commanded 
the  attention  of  neighboring  countries,  but  in- 
creased and  secured  it. 

This  may  be  said,  however,  only  in  respect 
to  the  department  of  Organic  Chemistry ;  for, 
when  Liebig  commenced  his  researches,  Inor- 
ganic Chemistry  had  reached  such  a  degree  of 
perfection,  that  it  was  partly  through  contrast 
with  it,  that  the  imperfections  of  the  former 


MEMOIR    OF   THE   AUTHOR.  XV 

were  perceptible,  partly,  also,  because  a  true 
basis  on  which  it  should  be  fomided  was  want- 
ing. 

To  this  design  of  recreating,  as  it  were,  Or- 
ganic Chemistry,  in  his  native  country,  Liebig 
was  always  faithful ;  and,  though  he  no  longer 
stands  alone  as  a  distinguished  promoter  of 
that  department,  yet  no  one  can  overlook  the 
influence  he  has  had  upon  his  colleagues  and 
pupils.  This  influence  operates  in  Germany 
and  England  to  urge  on  the  science,  in  France 
more  to  moderate  its  progress ;  that  is,  to  keep 
theory  within  its  proper  limits.  The  conse- 
quence has  been  that,  whereas,  before,  many 
chemical  students  repaired  to  the  laboratories 
of  Paris,  the  young  chemists  of  all  nations  are 
now  assembled  in  the  little  town  of  Giessen, 
to  profit  by  the  instructions  of  this  great  mas- 
ter. In  the  present  year  there  are  around 
him  one  hundred  and  thirty-five  foreigners. 
The  British  chemists  are  looking  with  eager- 
ness to  Germany,  and  to  undervalue  Ger- 
man Chemistry  at  the  present  day,  would  be 
ridiculed  even  in  France.  We  know  very  well, 
that  Dr.  Liebig  has  not  produced  this  effect 


XVI  MEMOIR    OF   THE   AUTHOR. 

alone,   but   who  can    tell,   how  soon  it  would 
have  happened  without  him  ? 

By  his  unwearied  efforts  to  simplify  Organic 
analysis  and  to  make  it  more  accessible,  he  has 
been  rendering  invaluable  services  to  the  young 
chemist.  He  has  also  jimplified  the  apparatus, 
and  his  improvements  in  it  are  now  extensively 
known  and  employed,  having  already  superseded 
much  that  was  formerly  in  use  ;  and  in  this  too 
he  has  conduced  to  the  great  advances  in  his 
favorite  department  of  science. 

From  the  commencement  of  his  brilliant  ca- 
reer, Dr.  Liebig  has  been  an  unflinching  op- 
ponent of  traditional  authorities,  and  has  never 
hesitated  to  attack  the  weaker  parts  of  the  old 
school.  It  may  be  asked,  does  he  not  in  the 
place  of  old  authorities  set  up  his  own  ?  Has 
he  not  been  too  ambitious  of  founding  a  new 
school  ?  We  think  not,  unless  we  should  honor 
with  his  name,  the  school  of  all  who  are  in- 
spired with  the  love  of  truth  and  the  ambition 
of  attaining  the  best  methods  of  research. 

It  cannot  be  wondered  at,  that  a  man  like 
Liebig  should  concentrate  about  him  a  circle 
of  young  men,  many  of  whom  are  blind  to  all 


MEMOIR    OF   THE  AUTHOR.  XVli 

other  merit,  but  that  of  their  master,  and  who 
extend  it  even  to  external  preparations,  for  ex- 
ample, to  single  parts  of  his  apparatus,  &c. 
But  they  may  be  excused,  after  the  proofs  he 
has  given,  how  fully  equal  he  is  to  his  task, 
by  a  series  of  experiments  always  so  chosen, 
that  they  have  aided  in  the  promotion  of  his 
general  object,  while  he  has  aroused  in  so  many 
others  the  true  spirit  of  research,  already  re- 
warded by  most  valuable  results. 

From  among  the  many  examples  of  the  skill 
and  sagacity  of  Liebig,  we  may  mention  his 
examination  of  the  Platinum-black  (Platin- 
schwarz),  of  Chloral,  of  Aldehyde  * ;  his  the- 
ory of  Alcohol  and  of  Ether,  and  that  of  the 
formation  of  Acetic  Acid  (Essigbildung),  of 
Alkaloids,  of  the  analysis  of  Organic  Elements 
(Organische  Elementar-Analyse),  on  all  of 
which  he  has  left  the  impress  of  his  analytical 
tact.  Nor  should  we  overlook  his  investigation 
of  the  products  of  the  decomposition  of  the 
Sulphocyanates  (Schwefel-Cyan),  of  the  con- 


*  Though  not  the  discoverer  of  Aldehyde,  Liebig  was  the 
first  to  insulate  it,  and  describe  its  properties. 
6* 


XV111  MEMOIR    OF    THE    AUTHOR. 

stitution  of  the  Organic  Acids,  and  his  experi- 
ments performed  in  connexion  with  Mr.  Wohler 
on  the  Oil  of  bitter  Almonds,  on  Cyanic  Acid, 
and  on  the  products  of  Decomposition  of  Uric 
Acid.  These  are  but  a  few  of  his  many  im- 
portant researches. 

Dr.  Liebig,  young  as  he  is,  has  attained  a 
reputation  which  secures  to  him  one  of  the  first 
places  in  the  history  of  Chemistry,  notwith- 
standing the  great  opposition  which  his  criti- 
cisms have  excited,  and  will  continue  to  excite 
as  he  advances.  A  few  years  since,  Professor 
Liebig  was  selected  by  Dr.  Turner,  to  aid  him 
in  the  completion  of  the  sixth  edition  of  his  Ele- 
ments of  Chemistry.  To  Liebig  was  committed 
the  department  of  Organic  Chemistry.  On  the 
decease  of  the  lamented  author,  the  work  was 
continued  by  Liebig  and  Dr.  Gregory  of  Aber- 
deen. The  manner  in  which  they  have  thus 
far  proceeded  with  their  undertaking,  has  shown 
that  it  could  not  have  be.en  placed  in  abler 
hands.  And  the  choice  of  Professor  Liebig, 
says  his  accomplished  coadjutor,  "has  been  rati- 
fied by  the  unanimous  voice  of  European  chem- 
ists, by  whom  he  is  admitted  to  be  the  first 


MEMOIR    OP    THE    AUTHOR.  xlx 

living  authority  in  Organic  Chemistry."  The 
translation  of  the  First  Part  of  Dr.  Liebig's  Re- 
port on  Organic  Chemistry,*  which  has  passed 
to  a  third  edition  in  this  country,  and  of  which 
the  present  work  is  a  continuation,  has  made 
the  name  of  the  author  familiar  to  us ;  and  the 
appearance  of  a  new  work  from  the  laboratory 
of  Giessen  will  be  no  less  welcome  on  this  side 
the  Atlantic,  than  it  was  on  the  continent  of 
Europe. 

CAMBRIDGE,  June,  1842. 


*  "  Chemistry  in  its  Application  to  Agriculture  and  Physiology. 
By  Justus  Liebig,  M.  D.,  Ph.  D.,  F.  R.  S.,  M.  R.  I.  A.,  Professor 
of  Chemistry  in  the  University  of  Giessen,  etc.,  etc.,  etc.  Edited 
from  the  Manuscript  of  the  Author  by  Lyon  Play  fair,  Ph.  D. 
Third  American,  from  the  second  London  edition,  with  very 
numerous  additions,  a  new  chapter  on  Soils,  Notes,  and  Appen- 
dix, by  John  W.  Webster,  M.  D.,  Erving  Professor  of  Chemistry 
in  Harvard  University.  Cambridge  :  Published  by  John  Owen. 
1842." 


TO 

THE    BRITISH    ASSOCIATION 

FOR   THE 

ADVANCEMENT  OF  SCIENCE. 


AT  the  meeting  of  the  British  Association  in 
Glasgow,  in  1840,  I  had  the  honor  to  present 
the  first  part  of  a  report  on  the  then  present 
state  of  Organic  Chemistry,  in  which  I  en- 
deavored to  develope  the  doctrines  of  this 
science  in  their  bearing  on  Agriculture  and 
Physiology. 

It  affords  me  now  much  gratification  to  be 
able  to  communicate  to  the  meeting  of  the  As- 
sociation for  the  present  year,  the  second  part 
of  my  labors  ;  in  which  1  have  attempted  to 
trace  the  application  of  Organic  Chemistry  to 
Animal  Physiology  and  Pathology. 

In  the  present  work,  an  extensive  series  of 
phenomena  have  been  treated  in  their  chemical 
relations ;  and,  although  it  would  be  presump- 
tuous to  consider  the  questions  here  raised  as 
being  definitely  resolved,  yet  those  who  are 


XX11  DEDICATION. 


familiar  with  chemistry  will  perceive,  that  the 
only  method  which  can  lead  to  theiT  final  reso- 
lution, namely,  the  quantitative  method,  has 
been  employed. 

The  formulae  and  equations  in  the  second 
part,  therefore,  although  they  are  not  to  be 
viewed  as  ascertained  truths,  and  as  furnishing 
a  complete,  or  the  only  explanation  of  the  vital 
processes  there  treated  of,  are  yet  true  in  this 
sense  ;  that,  being  deduced  from  facts  by  logi- 
cal induction,  they  must  stand  as  long  as  no 
new  facts  shall  be  opposed  to  them. 

When  the  chemist  shows,  for  example,  that 
the  elements  of  the  bile,  added  to  those  of  the 
urate  of  ammonia,  correspond  exactly  to  those 
of  blood,  he  presents  to  us  a  fact  which  is  in- 
dependent of  all  hypothesis.  It  remains  for 
the  physiologist  to  determine,  by  experiment, 
whether  the  conclusions  drawn  by  the  chemist 
from  such  a  fact  be  accurate  or  erroneous. 
And,  whether  this  question  be  answered  in  the 
affirmative  or  in  the  negative,  the  fact  remains, 
and  will  some  day  find  its  true  explanation. 

I  have  now  to  perform  the  agreeable  duty  of 
expressing  my  sense  of  the  services  rendered 
to  me,  in  the  preparation  of  the  English  edition 
by  my  friend  Dr.  Gregory.  The  distinguished 
station  he  occupies  as  a  chemist ;  the  regular 
education  which  he  has  received  in  the  various 


DEDICATION.  XX111 

branches  of  medicine;  and  his  intimate  ac- 
quaintance with  the  German  language,  —  all 
these,  taken  together,  are  the  best  securities, 
that  the  translation  is  such  as  to  convey  the 
exact  sense  of  the  original  ;  securities,  such  as 
are  not  often  united  in  the  same  individual. 

It  is  my  intention  to  follow  this  second  part 
with  a  third,  the  completion  of  which,  however, 
cannot  be  looked  for  before  the  lapse  of  two 
years.  This  third  part  will  contain  an  investi- 
gation of  the  food  of  man  and  animals,  the  an- 
alysis of  all  articles  of  diet,  and  the  study  of 
the  changes  which  the  raw  food  undergoes  in 
its  preparation ;  as,  for  example,  in  fermenta- 
tion (bread),  baking,  roasting,  boiling,  &c. 
Already,  it  is  true,  many  analyses  have  been 
made  for  the  proposed  work;  but  the  number 
of  objects  of  investigation  is  exceedingly  large, 
and  in  order  to  determine  with  accuracy  the 
absolute  value  of  seed,  or  of  flour,  or  of  a  spe- 
cies of  fodder,  &c.,  as  food,  the  ultimate  analy- 
sis alone  is  not  sufficient ;  there  are  required 
comparative  investigations,  which  present  very 
great  difficulties. 

DR.  JUSTUS  LIEBIG. 
GIESSEN,  3d  June,  1842. 


PREFACE. 


BY  the  application  to  Chemistry  of  the  meth- 
ods which  had  for  centuries  been  followed  by 
philosophers  in  ascertaining  the  causes  of  natu- 
ral phenomena  in  physics,  —  by  the  observation 
of  weight  and  measure,  —  LAVOISIER  laid  the 
foundation  of  a  new  science,  which,  having 
been  cultivated  by  a  host  of  distinguished  men, 
has,  in  a  singularly  short  period,  reached  a  high 
degree  of  perfection. 

It  was  the  investigation  and  determination  of 
all  the  conditions  which  are  essential  to  an  ob- 
servation or  an  experiment,  and  the  discovery 
of  the  true  principles  of  scientific  research,  that 
protected  chemists  from  error,  and  conducted 
them,  by  a  way  equally  simple  and  secure,  to 
discoveries  which  have  shed  a  brilliant  light  on 
those  natural  phenomena,  which  were  previous- 
ly the  most  obscure  and  incomprehensible. 

The  most  useful  applications  to  the  arts,  to 
industry,  and  to  all  branches  of  knowledge  re- 
lated to  chemistry,  sprung  from  the  laws  thus 


XXVI  PREFACE. 

established  ;  and  this  influence  was  not  delayed 
till  chemistry  had  attained  its  highest  perfec- 
tion, but  came  into  action  with  each  new  ob- 
servation. 

All  existing  experience  and  observation  in 
other  departments  of  science  reacted,  in  like 
manner,  on  the  improvement  and  development 
of  chemistry  ;  so  that  chemistry  received  from 
metallurgy,  and  from  other  industrial  arts,  as 
much  benefit  as  she  had  conferred  on  them. 
While  they  simultaneously  increased  in  wealth, 
they  mutually  contributed  to  the  development 
of  each  other. 

After  mineral  chemistry  had  gradually  attain- 
ed its  present  state  of  development,  the  labors 
of  chemists  took  a  new  direction.  From  the 
study  of  the  constituent  parts  of  vegetables  and 
animals,  new  and  altered  views  have  arisen ; 
and  the  present  work  is  an  attempt  to  apply 
these  views  to  physiology  and  pathology. 

In  earlier  times  the  attempt  has  been  made, 
and  often  with  great  success,  to  apply  to  the 
objects  of  the  medical  art  the  views  derived 
from  an  acquaintance  with  chemical  observa- 
tions. Indeed,  the  great  physicians,  who  lived 
towards  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
were  the  founders  of  chemistry,  and  in  those 
days  the  only  philosophers  acquainted  with  it. 
The  phlogistic  system  was  the  dawn  of  a  new 


PREFACE. 


day  ;  it  was  the  victory  of  philosophy  over  the 
rudest  empiricism. 

With  all  its  discoveries,  modern  chemistry 
has  performed  but  slender  services  to  physi- 
ology and  pathology  ;  and  we  cannot  be  de- 
ceived as  to  the  cause  of  this  failure,  if  we 
reflect  that  it  was  found  impossible  to  trace 
any  sort  of  relation  between  the  observations 
made  in  inorganic  chemistry,  the  knowledge 
of  the  characters  of  the  elementary  bodies,  and 
of  such  of  their  compounds  as  could  be  formed 
in  the  laboratory,  on  the  one  hand,  and  the 
living  body,  with  the  characters  of  its  constitu- 
ents, on  the  other. 

Physiology  took  no  share  in  the  advancement 
of  chemistry,  because  for  a  long  period  she  re- 
ceived from  the  latter  science  no  assistance  in 
her  own  development.  This  state  of  matters 
has  been  entirely  changed  within  five  and 
twenty  years.  But  during  this  period  physi- 
ology has  also  acquired  new  ways  and  methods 
of  investigation  within  her  own  province  ;  and 
it  is  only  the  exhaustion  of  these  sources  of 
discovery,  which  has  enabled  us  to  look  for- 
ward to  a  change  in  the  direction  of  the  labors 
of  physiologists.  The  time  for  such  a  change 
is  now  at  hand  ;  and  a  perseverance  in  the 
methods  lately  followed  in  physiology  would 
now,  from  the  want,  which  must  soon  be  felt, 


XXV111  PREFACE. 

of  fresh  points  of  departure  for  researches, 
render  physiology  more  extensive,  but  neither 
more  profound  nor  more  solid. 

No  one  will  venture  to  maintain,  that  the 
knowledge  of  the  forms  and  of  the  phenomena 
of  motion  in  organized  beings  is  either  unne- 
cessary or  unprofitable.  On  the  contrary,  this 
knowledge  must  be  considered  as  altogether 
indispensable  to  that  of  the  vital  processes.  But 
it  embraces  only  one  class  of  the  conditions 
necessary  for  the  acquisition  of  that  knowledge, 
and  is  not  of  itself  sufficient  to  enable  us  to 
attain  it. 

The  study  of  the  uses  and  functions  of  the 
different  organs,  and  of  their  mutual  connex- 
ion in  the  animal  body,  was  formerly  the  chief 
object  of  physiological  researches  ;  but  lately 
this  study  has  fallen  into  the  back-ground. 
The  greater  part  of  all  the  modern  discoveries 
has  served  to  enrich  comparative  anatomy  far 
more  than  physiology. 

These  researches  have  yielded  the  most  val- 
uable results  in  relation  to  the  recognition  of 
the  dissimilar  forms  and  conditions  to  be  found 
in  the  healthy  and  in  the  diseased  organism ; 
but  they  have  yielded  no  conclusions  calculated 
to  give  us  a  more  profound  insight  into  the 
essence  of  the  vital  processes. 

The  most  exact  anatomical  knowledge  of  the 


PREFACE.  XXIX 

structure  of  the  tissues  cannot  teach  us  their 
uses ;  and  from  the  microscopical  examination 
of  the  most  minute  reticulations  of  the  vessels 
we  can  learn  no  more  as  to  their  functions  than 
we  have  learned  concerning  vision  from  count- 
ing the  surfaces  on  the  eye  of  the  fly.  The 
most  beautiful  and  elevated  problem  for  the 
human  intellect,  the  discovery  of  the  laws  of 
vitality,  cannot  be  resolved,  nay,  cannot  even 
be  imagined,  without  an  accurate  knowledge 
of  chemical  forces ;  of  those  forces  which  do 
not  act  at  sensible  distances  ;  which  are  mani- 
fested in  the  same  way  as  those  ultimate  causes 
by  which  the  vital  phenomena  are  determined ; 
and  which  are  invariably  found  active,  when- 
ever dissimilar  substances  come  into  contact. 

Physiology,  even  in  the  present  day,  still 
endeavors,  but  always  after  the  fashion  of  the 
phlogistic  chemists  (that  is,  by  the  qualitative 
method),  to  apply  chemical  experience  to  the 
removal  of  diseased  conditions  ;  but  with  all 
these  countless  experiments  we  are  not  one 
step  nearer  to  the  causes  and  the  essence  of 
disease. 

Without  proposing  well-defined  questions, 
experimenters  have  placed  blood,  urine,  and 
all  the  constituents  of  the  healthy  or  diseased 
frame,  in  contact  with  acids,  alkalies,  and  all 
sorts  of  chemical  reagents;  and  have  drawn, 
c* 


XXX  PREFACE. 

from  observation  of  the  changes  thus  produced, 
conclusions  as  to  their  behavior  in  the  body. 

By  pursuing  this  method,  useful  remedies  or 
modes  of  treatment  might  by  accident  be  dis- 
covered ;  but  a  rational  physiology  cannot  be 
founded  on  mere  reactions,  and  the  living 
body  cannot  be  viewed  as  a  chemical  labo- 
ratory. 

In  certain  diseased  conditions,  in  which  the 
blood  acquires  a  viscid  consistence,  this  state 
cannot  be  permanently  removed  by  a  chemical 
action  on  the  fluid  circulating  in  the  blood- 
vessels. The  deposit  of  a  sediment  from  the 
urine  may,  perhaps,  be  prevented  by  alkalies, 
while  their  action  has  not  the  remotest  tendency 
to  remove  the  cause  of  disease.  Again,  when  we 
observe,  in  typhus,  insoluble  salts  of  ammonia 
in  the  faeces,  and  a  change  in  the  globules  of 
the  blood  similar  to  that  which  may  be  artifi- 
cially produced  by  ammonia,  we  are  not,  on 
that  account,  entitled  to  consider  the  presence 
of  ammonia  in  the  body  as  the  cause,  but  only 
as  the  effect  of  a  cause. 

Thus  medicine,  after  the  fashion  of  the  Aris- 
totelian philosophy,  has  formed  certain  concep- 
tions in  regard  to  nutrition  and  sanguification  ; 
articles  of  diet  have  been  divided  into  nutri- 
tious and  non-nutritious ;  but  these  theories, 
being  founded  on  observations  destitute  of  the 


PREFACE.  XXXI 

conditions  most  essential  to  the  drawing  of  just 
conclusions,  could  not  be  received  as  expres- 
sions of  the  truth. 

How  clear  are  now  to  us  the  relations  of  the 
different  articles  of  food  to  the  objects  which 
they  serve  in  the  body,  since  organic  chemistry- 
has  applied  to  the  investigation  her  quantitative 
method  of  research ! 

When  a  lean  goose,  weighing  41bs.,  gains, 
in  thirty-six  days,  during  which  it  has  been 
fed  with  241bs.  of  maize,  51bs.  in  weight,  and 
yields  3^  Ibs.  of  pure  fat,  this  fat  cannot  have 
been  contained  in  the  food,  ready  formed,  be- 
cause maize  does  not  contain  the  thousandth 
part  of  its  weight  of  fat,  or  of  any  substance 
resembling  fat.  And  when  a  certain  number 
of  bees,  the  weight  of  which  is  exactly  known, 
being  fed  with  pure  honey,  devoid  of  wax, 
yield  one  part  of  wax  for  every  twenty  parts 
of  honey  consumed,  without  any  change  being 
perceptible  in  their  health  or  in  their  weight, 
it  is  impossible  any  longer  to  entertain  a  doubt 
as  to  the  formation  of  fat  from  sugar  in  the 
animal  body. 

We  must  adopt  the  method  which  has  thus 
led  to  the  discovery  of  the  origin  of  fat,  in 
the  investigation  of  the  origir*  and  alteration  of 
the  secretions,  as  well  as  in  the  study  of  all 
the  other  phenomena  of  the  animal  body. 


XXX11  PREFACE. 

From  the  moment  that  we  begin  to  look  earn- 
estly and  conscientiously  for  the  true  answers 
to  our  questions  ;  that  we  take  the  trouble, 
by  means  of  weight  and  measure,  to  fix  our 
observations,  and  express  them  in  the  form  of 
equations,  these  answers  are  obtained  without 
difficulty. 

However  numerous  our  observations  may  be, 
yet,  if  they  only  bear  on  one  side  of  a  ques- 
tion, they  will  never  enable  us  to  penetrate  the 
essence  of  a  natural  phenomenon  in  its  full 
significance.  If  we  are  to  derive  any  advan- 
tage from  them,  they  must  be  directed  to  a 
well-defined  object ;  and  there  must  be  an  or- 
ganized connexion  between  them. 

Mechanical  philosophers  and  chemists  justly 
ascribe  to  their  methods  of  research  the  greater 
part  of  the  success  which  has  attended  their 
labors.  The  result  of  every  such  investigation, 
if  it  bear  in  any  degree  the  stamp  of  perfec- 
tion, may  always  be  given  in  few  words  ;  but 
these  few  words  are  eternal  truths,  to  the  dis- 
covery of  which  numberless  experiments  and 
questions  were  essential.  The  researches  them- 
selves, the  laborious  experiments  and  compli- 
cated apparatus,  are  forgotten  as  soon  as  the 
truth  is  ascertained.  They  were  the  ladders, 
the  shafts,  the  tools,  which  were  indispensable 
to  enable  us  to  attain  to  the  rich  vein  of  ore ; 


PREFACE.  XXxiil 

they  were  the  pillars  and  air  passages  which 
protected  the  mine  from  water  and  from  foul  air. 

Every  chemical  or  physical  investigation, 
however  insignificant,  which  lays  claim  to  at- 
tention, must  in  the  present  day  possess  this 
character.  From  a  certain  number  of  obser- 
vations it  must  enable  us  to  draw  some  conclu- 
sion, whether  it  be  extended  or  limited. 

The  imperfection  of  the  method  or  system 
of  research  adopted  by  physiologists  can  alone 
explain  the  fact,  that  for  the  last  fifty  years 
they  have  established  so  few  new  and  solid 
truths  in  regard  to  a  more  profound  knowledge 
of  the  functions  of  the  most  important  organs, 
of  the  spleen,  of  the  liver,  and  of  the  numerous 
glands  of  the  body ;  and  the  limited  acquaint- 
ance of  physiologists  with  the  methods  of  re- 
search employed  in  chemistry  will  continue  to 
be  the  chief  impediment  to  the  progress  of 
physiology,  as  well  as  a  reproach  which  that 
science  cannot  escape. 

Before  the  time  of  Lavoisier,  Scheele,  and 
Priestley,  chemistry  was  not  more  closely  re- 
lated to  physics  than  she  is  now  to  physiology. 
At  the  present  day  chemistry  is  so  fused,  as 
it  were,  into  physics,  that  it  would  be  a  diffi- 
cult matter  to  draw  the  line  between  them 
distinctly.  The  connexion  between  chemistry 
and  physiology  is  the  same,  and  in  another  half 


PREFACE. 

century  it  will  be  found  impossible  to  separate 
them. 

Our  questions  and  our  experiments  intersect 
in  numberless  curved  -lines  the  straight  line 
that  leads  to  truth.  It  is  the  points  of  inter- 
section that  indicate  to  us  the  true  direction  ; 
but,  owing  to  the  imperfection  of  the  human 
intellect,  these  curve  lines  must  be  pursued. 
Observers  in  chemistry  and  physics  have  the 
eye  ever  fixed  on  the  object  which  they  seek 
to  attain,  —  one  may  succeed,  for  a  time,  in 
following  the  direct  line ;  but  all  are  prepared 
for  circuitous  paths.  Never  doubting  of  the  ul- 
timate success  of  their  efforts,  provided  they  ex- 
hibit constancy  and  perseverance,  their  eager- 
ness and  courage  are  only  exalted  by  difficulties. 

Detached  observations,  without  connexion, 
are  points  scattered  over  the  plain,  which  do 
not  allow  us  to  choose  a  decided  path.  For 
centuries  chemistry  presented  nothing  but  these 
points,  although  sufficient  means  were  available 
to  fill  up  the  intervals  between  them.  But  per- 
manent discoveries  and  real  progress  were  only 
made  when  chemists  ceased  to  make  use  of 
fancy  to  connect  them. 

My  object  in  the  present  work  has  been  to 
direct  attention  to  the  points  of  intersection  of 
chemistry  with  physiology,  and  to  point  out 
those  parts  in  which  the  sciences  become,  as  it 


PREFACE.  XXXV 

were,  mixed  up  together.  It  contains  a  col- 
lection of  problems,  such  as  chemistry  at  pres- 
ent requires  to  be  resolved ;  and  a  number  of 
conclusions,  drawn  according  to  the  rules  of 
that  science,  from  such  observations  as  have 
been  made. 

These  questions  and  problems  will  be  re- 
solved :  and  we  cannot  doubt,  that  we  shall 
have  in  that  case  a  new  physiology  and  a  ra- 
tional pathology.  Our  sounding  line,  indeed, 
is  not  long  enough  to  measure  the  depths  of 
the  sea,  but  is  not  on  that  account  less  valuable 
to  us.  If  it  assist  us,  in  the  mean  time,  to 
avoid  rocks  and  shoals,  its  use  is  sufficiently 
obvious.  In  the  hands  of  the  physiologist,  or- 
ganic chemistry  must  become  an  intellectual 
instrument,  by  means  of  which  he  will  be  en- 
abled to  trace  the  causes  of  phenomena  invisi- 
ble to  the  bodily  sight ;  and  if  among  the  re- 
sults which  I  have  developed  or  indicated  in 
this  work,  one  alone  shall  admit  of  a  use- 
ful application,  I  shall  consider  the  object  for 
which  it  was  written  as  fully  attained.  The 
path  which  has  led  to  it  will  open  up  other 
paths ;  and  this  I  consider  as  the  most  impor- 
tant object  to  be  gained. 

JUSTUS    LIEBIG. 

GIESSEN,  April,  1842. 


NOTE. 

AT  the  end  of  the  Appendix  will  be  found  an  interesting 
paper  by  Keller  (see  page  315),  confirming  the  very  im- 
portant observation  of  A.  Ure,  Junior,  as  to  the  conversion 
of  benzoic  acid  into  hippuric  acid  in  the  human  body,  and 
the  more  recent  confirmation  of  the  same  by  M.  Garrod, 
from  the  London  and  Edinburgh  Philosophical  Magazine 
for  June,  1842.  The  reader  will  perceive,  that  this  fact 
strengthens  materially  the  argument  of  the  Author  on  the 
action  of  remedies. 

It  has  been  deemed  advisable  to  retain  in  this  edition,  the 
notes  on  page  76,  which  will  not  be  found  in  the  English 
edition.  They  were  removed,  after  the  pages  were  in  type, 
to  make  room  for  extending  the  statement,  on  page  77,  that 
phosphoric  acid  "  is  employed  in  forming  brain  and  nervous 
matter,  to  which  it  is  essential,  and,  also,  no  doubt,  in  con- 
tributing to  the  supply  of  the  earthy  part  of  the  bones.  It 
is  probable,  however,  that  the  greater  part  of  the  earth  of 
bones  is  obtained  by  the  direct  assimilation  of  phosphate  of 
lime,  while  the  soluble  phosphates  are  better  adapted  for  the 
production  of  nervous  matter."  And,  —  "  The  phosphoric 
acid  which,  by  the  change  of  matter,  is  separated  in  the 
uncombined  state,  is  not  expelled  from  the  body  as  phos- 
phate of  soda  ;  but  we  find  it  in  the  solid  excrements  in  the 
form  of  insoluble  earthy  phosphates." 

tCJ*  For  an  explanation  of  the  formula;  and  equations 
employed  in  this  work,  see  the  Introduction  to  the  Appen- 
dix, page  267. 

For  Tables  of  corresponding  Hessian  and  English  weights, 
&c.,  see  Organ.  Chem.  in  its  Application  to  Agriculture, 
3d  edition,  page  416. 


ERRATA. 


Page  76,  line  17,  for  «  venous  "  read  "  arterial." ' 
"    110,  line  12,  for  <;  circulation  "  read  "  cellular  tissue." 
"  271,  line  11,  for  "  manuel"  read  "  Manual." 


CONTENTS. 


PART   I. 

PAGE 

Vital  force,  vis  vitse,  or  vitality         ...        .        .        .          1 

Distinction  between  animal  and  vegetable  life  ...  2 
Assimilation  the  result  of  chemical  forces  ...  4 
Vitality  independent  of  consciousness  ....  6 

Laws  of  the  vital  force 8 

Conditions  of  animal  life 9 

Nutrition  depends  on  chemical  changes  ....  10 
Amount  of  oxygen  inspired  by  an  adult  man  .  .  .12 
It  combines  with  carbon  and  hydrogen  in  the  body  .  13 
The  consumption  of  oxygen  varies  .  .  .  .  .15 

Effect  of  heat  on  these  variations 16 

The  mutual  action  of  oxygen  and  carbon  in  the  body  is  the 

true  source  of  animal  heat 17 

The  amount  of  oxygen  regulates  that  of  food      .        .        .20 

Effects  of  climate  on  the  appetite 22 

The  process  of  starvation 24 

Cause  of  death  in  starvation  and  chronic  diseases  .  .  26 
Nerves  and  muscles  not  the  source  of  animal  heat  .  .  28 

Amount  of  animal  heat 32 

Nervous  and  vegetative  life          .        .        .        .        .        .36 

Nutrition  depends  on  the  constituents  of  blood        .        .        38 

Identity  of  organic  composition  in  fibrine  and  albumen        »    39 
d 


XXXV111  CONTENTS. 

Nutrition  in  the  carnivora  the  most  simple 

In  the  herbivora,  depends  on  the  azotized  products  of  veg- 
etables ......... 

These  products  identical  with  the  constituents  of  blood 

The  blood  of  animals  is  therefore  formed  by  vegetables  . 

Uses  of  the  non-azotized  ingredients  of  food 

Changes  of  the  food  in  the  organism  of  carnivora    . 

Carbon  accumulates  in  the  bile 

Nitrogen  in  the  urine 

The  carbon  is  consumed  or  burned      .         .        .        . 

True  function  of  the  bile 

Amount  of  bile  secreted      ....... 

Assimilation  more  energetic  in  the  young  animal     . 

The  butter,  sugar,  &c.,  of  its  food  support  respiration 

The  same  is  true  of  the  class  of  herbivora 

Waste  of  matter  very  rapid  in  carnivora      .... 

Importance  of  agriculture  to  population    .... 

Assimilation  less  energetic  in  the  carnivora 

Origin  of  fat  in  domesticated  animals       .... 

Its  formation  is  a  source  of  oxygen      .        .         .        . 

It  is  formed  when  oxygen  is  deficient,  and  is  a  source  of 
animal  heat 86 

Elements  of  nutrition  and  of  respiration  .  .        92 

<5elatine  incapable  of  serving  for  nutrition,  strictly  so  called    93 

But  it  may  serve  to  nourish  the  gelatinous  tissues    .        .        94 

PART   II. 
THE  METAMORPHOSIS  OF  TISSUES. 

Discovery  of  proteine 10] 

It  is  formed  by  vegetables  alone 102 

Theory  of  chymification 104 

Uses  of  the  saliva 108 


CONTENTS.  XXXIX 

Source  of  the  nitrogen  exhaled  from  the  lungs  and  skin    .  109 

Composition  of  proteine 116 

Composition  of  the  animal  tissues 120 

Gelatine  contains  no  proteine,  although  formed  from  it  122 
The  secretions  contain  all  the  elements  of  the  blood  .  126 
Formula  of  blood  and  metamorphoses  of  bile  .  .  127 
Metamorphoses  of  blood  and  flesh  .  .  .  .  130 
The  constituents  of  the  urine  derived  from  the  metamor- 
phosed tissues 131 

Relation  of  blood  or  flesh  and  proteine  to  the  secretions 

and  excretions 133 

Formation  of  gelatine    .......  135 

Origin  of  bile  in  the  carnivora   .         .        ...         .  137 

Orfgin  of  bile  in  the  herbivora 140 

Origin  of  hippuric  acid       .......  142 

Formation  of  the  chief  secretions  and  excretions  .        .  144 

Soda  essential  to  the  bile 146 

Relation  of  urine  to  bile 148 

Relation  of  starch  to  bile  .         .....         .  150 

Uses  of  common  salt 153 

Certain  remedies  take  a  share  in  the  vital  transformations  161 

Chief  qualities  of  the  blood 163 

Modus  operandi  of  organic  remedies          ....  165 

All  organic  poisons  contain  nitrogen       ....  168 

Theine  identical  with  caffeine 170 

Relation  of  theine  and  caffeine  to  bile   .        .        .        .  170 

Theory  of  their  action 171 

Theory  of  the  action  of  the  vegetable  alkalies       .        .  173 

Composition  and  origin  of  nervous  matter          .        .        .  174 

It  is  related  to  that  of  the  vegetable  alkalies          .         .  176 
Theory  of  the  action  of  the  latter      .        .        .        .        .178 

Phosphorus  seems  essential  to  nervous  matter        .        .  180 


Xl  CONTENTS. 

PART  III. 

1.  The  phenomena  of  motion  in  the  animal  organism         .     185 

2.  The  same  subject,  with  particular  reference  to  the  waste 

and  supply  or  change  of  matter          ....    221 

3.  Theory  of  disease 242 

4.  Theory  of  respiration     .        .        .        .        .        .        .    253 

APPENDIX. 

Containing  the  analytical  evidence  referred  to  in  the  sec- 
tions in  which  are  described  the  chemical  processes 
of  respiration,  nutrition,  and  the  metamorphosis  of 

tissues 265 

• 
On  the  conversion  of  benzoic  acid  into  hippuric  acid  in  the 

human  body,  by  W.  Keller        .....  315 

Exosmose  and  endosmose      ......  319 

Action  of  the  heart 320 

Excretion  of  carbon       .        .        .        .        .        .        .  321 

INDEX  323 


ORGANIC  CHEMISTRY 


APPLIED    TO 


PHYSIOLOGY  AND  P,ATHOLO;GpY. 


I.  IN  the  animal  ovum,  as  well  as  in  the  seed  of  a 
plant,  we  recognise  a  certain  remarkable  force,  the 
source  of  growth,  or  increase  in  the  mass,  and  of  re- 
production, or  of  supply  of  the  matter  consumed  ;  a 
force  in  a  state  of  rest.  By  the  action  of  external  in- 
fluences, by  impregnation,  by  the  presence  of  air  and 
moisture,  the  condition  of  static  equilibrium  of  this 
force  is  disturbed  ;  entering  into  a  state  of  motion  or 
activity,  it  exhibits  itself  in  the  production  of  a  series 
of  forms,  which,  although  occasionally  bounded  by 
right  lines,  are  yet  widely  distinct  from  geometrical 
forms,  such  as  we  observe  in  crystallized  minerals. 
This  force  is  called  the  vital  force,  vis  vitce  or  vitality. 

The  increase  of  mass  in  a  plant  is  determined  by  the 
occurrence  of  a  decomposition  which  takes  place  in 
certain  parts  of  the  plant  under  the  influence  of  light 
and  heat. 

In  the  vital  process,  as  it  goes  on  in  vegetables,  it 
is  exclusively  inorganic  matter  which  undergoes  this 
decomposition  ;  and  if,  with  the  most  distinguished  mm- 
1 


VEGETABLE  AND 


eralogists,  we  consider  atmospherical  air  and  certain 
other  gases  as  minerals,  it  may  be  said  that  the  vital  pro- 
cess in  vegetables  accomplishes  the  transformation  of 
mineral  substances  into  an  organism  endued  with  life  ; 
that  the  mineral  becomes  part  of  an  organ  possessing 
vital  force.  ,  , 

The  increase  xxt'hiass  in  a  living  plant  implies  that 
.eertaijt  sopipotieint  ;parts  ef  its  nourishment  become 
component  parts  of  the  plant ;  and  a  comparison  of  the 
chemical  composition  of  the  plant  with  that  of  its  nour- 
ishment makes  known  to  us,  with  positive  certainty, 
which  of  the  component  parts  of  the  latter  have  been 
assimilated,  and  which  have  been  rejected. 

The  observations  of  vegetable  physiologists  and  the 
researches  of  chemists  have  mutually  contributed  to  es- 
tablish the  fact,  that  the  growth  and  development  of 
vegetables  depend  on  the  elimination  of  oxygen,  which 
is  separated  from  the  other  component  parts  of  their 
nourishment. 

In  contradistinction  to  vegetable  life,  the  life  of  ani- 
mals exhibits  itself  in  the  continual  absorption  of  the 
oxygen  of  the  air,  and  its  combination  with  certain  com- 
ponent parts  of  the  animal  body. 

While  no  part  of  an  organized  being  can  serve  as 
food  to  vegetables,  until,  by  the  processes  of  putrefac- 
tion and  decay,  it  has  assumed  the  form  of  inorganic 
matter,  the  animal  organism  requires,  for  its  support  and 
development,  highly  organized  atoms.  The  food  of  all 
animals,  in  all  circumstances,  consists  of  parts  of  or- 
ganisms. 


ANIMAL  LIFE.  3 

Animals  are  distinguished  from  vegetables  by  the  fac- 
ulty of  locomotion,  and,  in  general,  by  the  possession 
of  senses. 

The  existence  and  activity  of  these  distinguishing 
faculties  depend  on  certain  instruments  which  are  never 
found  in  vegetables.  Comparative  anatomy  shows,  that 
the  phenomena  of  motion  and  sensation  depend  on 
certain  kinds  of  apparatus,  which  have  no  other  relation 
to  each  other  than  this,  that  they  meet  in  a  common 
centre.  The  substance  of  the  spinal  marrow,  the 
nerves,  and  the  brain,  is,  in  its  composition,  and  in  its 
chemical  characters,  essentially  distinct  from  that  of 
which  cellular  substance,  membranes,  muscles,  and  skin 
are  composed. 

Every  thing  in  the  animal  organism,  to  which  the 
name  of  motion  can  be  applied,  proceeds  from  the  ner- 
vous apparatus.  The  phenomena  of  motion  in  vegeta- 
bles, the  circulation  of  the  sap,  for  example,  observed 
in  many  of  the  characeae,  and  the  closing  of  flowers  and 
leaves,  depend  on  physical  and  mechanical  causes.  A 
plant  is  destitute  of  nerves.  Heat  and  light  are  the 
remote  causes  of  motion  in  vegetables  ;  but  in  animals 
we  recognise  in  the  nervous  apparatus  a  source  of 
power,  capable  of  renewing  itself  at  every  moment  of 
their  existence. 

While  the  assimilation  of  food  in  vegetables,  and  the 
whole  process  of  their  formation,  are  dependent  on  cer- 
tain external  influences  which  produce  motion,  the 
development  of  the  animal  organism  is,  to  a  certain 
extent,  independent  of  these  external  influences,  just 


4  ASSIMILATION  THE  RESULT 

because  the  animal  body  can  produce  within  itself  that 
source  of  motion,  which  is  indispensable  to  the  vital 
process. 

Assimilation,  or  the  process  of  formation  and  growth, 
—  in  other  words,  the  passage  of  matter  from  a  state 
of  motion  to  that  of  rest,  —  goes  on  in  the  same  way 
in  animals  and  in  vegetables.  In  both,  the  same  cause 
determines  the  increase  of  mass.  This  constitutes  the 
true  vegetative  life,  which  is  carried  on  without  con- 
sciousness. 

The  activity  of  vegetative  life  manifests  itself,  in 
vegetables,  with  the  aid  of  external  influences  ;  in  ani- 
mals, by  means  of  influences  produced  within  their 
organism.  Digestion,  circulation,  secretion,  are  no 
doubt  under  the  influence  of  the  nervous  system  ;  but 
the  force  which  gives  to  the  germ,  the  leaf,  and  the  rad- 
ical fibres  of  the  vegetable  the  same  wonderful  proper- 
ties, is  the  same  as  that  residing  in  the  secreting  mem- 
branes and  glands  of  animals,  and  which  enables  every 
animal  organ  to  perform  its  own  proper  function.  It  is 
only  the  source  of  motion  that  differs  in  the  two  great 
classes  of  organized  beings. 

While  the  organs  of  the  vital  motions  are  never 
wanting  in  the  lowest  orders  of  animals,  as  in  the  im- 
pregnated germ  of  the  ovum,  in  which  they  are  devel- 
oped first  of  all,  we  find,  in  the  higher  orders  of  ani- 
mals, peculiar  organs  of  feeling  and  sensation,  of  con- 
sciousness and  of  a  higher  intellectual  existence. 

Pathology  informs  us,  that  the  true  vegetative  life  is 
in  no  way  dependent  on  the  presence  of  this  apparatus  ; 


OF  CHEMICAL  FORCES.  5 

that  the  process  of  nutrition  proceeds  in  those  parts  of 
the  body  where  the  nerves  of  sensation  and  voluntary 
motion  are  paralyzed,  exactly  in  the  same  way  as  in 
other  parts  where  these  nerves  are  in  the  normal  condi- 
tion ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  that  the  most  energetic 
volition  is  incapable  of  exerting  any  influence  on  the 
contractions  of  the  heart,  on  the  motion  of  the  intes- 
tines, or  on  the  processes  of  secretion. 

The  higher  phenomena  of  mental  existence  cannot, 
in  the  present  state  of  science,  be  referred  to  their 
proximate,  and  still  less  to  their  ultimate  causes.  We 
only  know  of  them,  that  they  exist ;  we  ascribe  them  to 
an  immaterial  agency,  and  that,  in  so  far  as  its  manifes- 
tations are  connected  with  matter,  an  agency  entirely 
distinct  from  the  vital  force,  with  which  it  has  nothing  in 
common. 

It  cannot  be  denied,  that  this  peculiar  force  exercises 
a  certain  influence  on  the  activity  of  vegetative  life, 
just  as  other  immaterial  agents,  such  as  Light,  Heat, 
Electricity,  and  Magnetism  do  ;  but  this  influence  is  not 
of  a  determinative  kind,  and  manifests  itself  only  as  an 
acceleration,  a  retarding,  or  a  disturbance  of  the  pro- 
cess of  vegetative  life.  In  a  manner  exactly  analogous, 
the  vegetative  life  reacts  on  the  conscious  mental  ex- 
istence. 

There  are  thus  two  forces,  which  are  found  in  activity 
together  ;  but  consciousness  and  intellect  may  be  ab- 
sent in  animals  as  they  are  in  living  vegetables,  without 
their  vitality  being  otherwise  affected  than  by  the  want 
of  a  peculiar  source  of  increased  energy  or  of  disturb- 
1* 


6  VITALITY  INDEPENDENT 

ance.  Except  in  regard  to  this,  all  the  vital  chemical 
processes  go  on  precisely  in  the  same  way  in  man  and 
in  the  lower  animals. 

The  efforts  of  philosophers,  constantly  renewed,  to 
penetrate  the  relations  of  the  soul  to  animal  life,  have 
all  along  retarded  the  progress  of  physiology.  In  this 
attempt  men  left  the  province  of  philosophical  research 
for  that  of  fancy ;  physiologists,  carried  away  by  ima- 
gination, were  far  from  being  acquainted  with  the  laws 
of  purely  animal  life.  None  of  them  had  a  clear  con- 
ception of  the  process  of  development  and  nutrition,  or 
of  the  true  cause  of  death.  They  professed  to  explain 
the  most  obscure  psychological  phenomena,  and  yet 
they  were  unable  to  say  what  fever  is,  and  in  what  way 
quinine  acts  in  curing  it. 

For  the  purpose  of  investigating  the  laws  of  vital 
motion  in  the  animal  body,  only  one  condition,  namely, 
the  knowledge  of  the  apparatus  which  serves  for  its 
production,  was  ascertained  ;  but  the  substance  of  the 
organs,  the  changes  which  food  undergoes  in  the  living 
body,  its  transformation  into  portions  of  organs,  and  its 
re-conversion  into  lifeless  compounds,  the  share  which 
the  atmosphere  takes  in  the  processes  of  vitality ;  all 
these  foundations  for  future  conclusions  were  still 
wanting. 

What  has  the  soul,  what  have  consciousness  and 
intellect,  to  do  with  the  development  of  the  human 
foetus,  or  the  foetus  in  a  fowl's  egg  ?  not  more,  surely, 
than  with  the  development  of  the  seeds  of  a  plant. 
Let  us  first  endeavor  to  refer  to  their  ultimate  causes 


OF  CONSCIOUSNESS  AND  INTELLECT.  7 

those  phenomena  of  life  which  are  not  psychological ; 
and  let  us  beware  of  drawing  conclusions  before  we 
have  a  groundwork.  We  know  exactly  the  mechanism 
of  the  eye  ;  but  neither  anatomy  nor  chemistry  will 
ever  explain  how  the  rays  of  light  act  on  conscious- 
ness, so  as  to  produce  vision.  Natural  science  has 
fixed  limits  which  cannot  be  passed  ;  and  it  must  always 
be  borne  in  mind  that,  with  all  our  discoveries,  we  shall 
never  know  what  light,  electricity,  and  magnetism  are  in 
their  essence,  because,  even  of  those  things  which  are 
material,  the  human  intellect  has  only  conceptions. 
We  can  ascertain,  however,  the  laws  which  regulate 
their  motion  and  rest,  because  these  are  manifested  in 
phenomena.  In  like  manner,  the  laws  of  vitality,  and 
of  all  that  disturbs,  promotes,  or  alters  it,  may  certainly 
be  discovered,  although  we  shall  never  learn  what  life 
is.  Thus,  the  discovery  of  the  laws  of  gravitation  and 
of  the  planetary  motions  led  to  an  entirely  new  concep- 
tion of  the  cause  of  these  phenomena.  This  concep- 
tion could  not  have  been  formed  in  all  its  clearness 
without  a  knowledge  of  the  phenomena  out  of  which  it 
was  evolved  ;  for,  considered  by  itself,  gravity,  like 
light  to  one  born  blind,  is  a  mere  word,  devoid  of 
meaning. 

The  modern  science  of  physiology  has  left  the  track 
of  Aristotle.  To  the  eternal  advantage  of  science,  and 
to  the  benefit  of  mankind,  it  no  longer  invents  a  horror 
vacui,  a  quinta  essentia^  in  order  to  furnish  credulous 
hearers  with  solutions  and  explanations  of  phenomena, 


9  LAWS  OF  THE 

whose  true  connexion  with  others,  whose  ultimate  cause, 
is  still  unknown. 

If  we  assume,  that  all  the  phenomena  exhibited  by 
the  organism  of  plants  and  animals  are  to  be  ascribed  to 
a  peculiar  cause,  different  in  its  manifestations  from  all 
other  causes  which  produce  motion  or  change  of  condi- 
tion ;  if,  therefore,  we  regard  the  vital  force  as  an  in- 
dependent force,  then,  in  the  phenomena  of  organic 
life,  as  in  all  other  phenomena  ascribed  to  the  action  of 
forces,  we  have  the  statics,  that  is,  the  state  of  equilib- 
rium determined  by  a  resistance,  and  the  dynamics,  of 
the  vital  force. 

All  the  parts  of  the  animal  body  are  produced  from  a 
peculiar  fluid,  circulating  in  its  organism,  by  virtue  of 
an  influence  residing  in  every  cell,  in  every  organ,  or 
part  of  an  organ.  Physiology  teaches,  that  all  parts  of 
the  body  were  originally  blood ;  or  that  at  least  they 
were  brought  to  the  growing  organs  by  means  of  this 
fluid. 

The  most  ordinary  experience  further  shows,  that  at 
each  moment  of  life,  in  the  animal  organism,  a  continued 
change  of  matter,  more  or  less  accelerated,  is  going  on  ; 
that  a  part  of  the  structure  is  transformed  into  unorgan- 
ized matter,  loses  its  condition  of  life,  and  must  be 
again  renewed.  Physiology  has  sufficiently  decisive 
grounds  for  the  opinion,  that  every  motion,  every  mani- 
festation of  force,  is  the  result  of  a  transformation  of 
the  structure  or  of  its  substance  ;  that  every  concep- 
tion, every  mental  affection,  is  followed  by  changes  in 
the  chemical  nature  of  the  secreted  fluids  ;  that  every 


VITAL  FORCE.  9 

thought,  every  sensation,  is  accompanied  by  a  change  in 
the  composition  of  the  substance  of  the  brain. 

In  order  to  keep  up  the  phenomena  of  life  in  animals, 
certain  matters  are  required,  parts  of  organisms,  which 
we  call  nourishment.  In  consequence  of  a  series  of 
alterations,  they  serve  either  for  the  increase  of  the 
mass  (nutrition),  or  for  the  supply  of  the  matter  con- 
sumed (reproduction),  or,  finally,  for  the  production  of 
force. 

II.  If  the  first  condition  of  animal  life  be  the  assimi- 
lation of  what  is  commonly  called  nourishment,  the 
second  is  a  continual  absorption  of  oxygen  from  the 
atmosphere. 

Viewed  as  an  object  of  scientific  research,  animal 
life  exhibits  itself  in  a  series  of  phenomena,  the  con- 
nexion and  recurrence  of  which  are  determined  by  the 
changes  which  the  food  and  the  oxygen  absorbed  from 
the  atmosphere  undergo  in  the  organism  under  the  influ- 
ence of  the  vital  force. 

All  vital  activity  arises  from  the  mutual  action  of 
the  oxygen  of  the  atmosphere  and  the  elements  of 
the  food. 

In  the  processes  of  nutrition  and  reproduction,  we 
perceive  the  passage  of  matter  from  the  state  of  motion 
to  that  of  rest  (static  equilibrium)  ;  under  the  influence 
of  the  nervous  system,  this  matter  enters  again  into  a 
state  of  motion.  The  ultimate  causes  of  these  different 
conditions  of  the  vital  force  are  chemical  forces. 

The  cause  of  the  state  of  rest  is  a  resistance,  deter- 


10  NUTRITION  AND  REPRODUCTION 

mined  by  a  force  of  attraction  (combination),  which 
acts  between  the  smallest  particles  of  matter,  and  is 
manifested  only  when  these  are  in  actual  contact,  or  at 
infinitely  small  distances. 

To  this  peculiar  kind  of  attraction  we  may  of  course 
apply  different  names  ;  but  the  chemist  calls  it  affinity. 

The  cause  of  the  state  of  motion  is  to  be  found  in  a 
series  of  changes,  which  the  food  undergoes  in  the  or- 
ganism, and  these  are  the  results  of  processes  of  de- 
composition, to  which  either  the  food  itself,  or  the 
structures  formed  from  it,  or  parts  of  organs,  are  sub- 
jected. 

The  distinguishing  character  of  vegetable  life  is  a 
continued  passage  of  matter  from  the  state  of  motion  to 
that  of  static  equilibrium.  While  a  plant  lives,  we 
cannot  perceive  any  cessation  in  its  growth  ;  no  part  of 
an  organ  in  the  plant  diminishes  in  size.  If  decompo- 
sition occur,  it  is  the  result  of  assimilation.  A  plant 
produces  within  itself  no  cause  of  motion  ;  no  part  of 
its  structure,  from  any  influence  residing  in  its  organism, 
loses  its  state  of  vitality,  and  is  converted  into  unorgan- 
ized, amorphous  compounds  ;  in  a  word,  no  waste 
occurs  in  vegetables.  Waste,  in  the  animal  body,  is  a 
change  in  the  state  or  in  the  composition  of  some  of 
its  parts,  and  consequently  is  the  result  of  chemical 
actions. 

The  influence  of  poisons  and  of  remedial  agents  on 
the  living  animal  body  evidently  shows,  that  the  chemical 
decompositions  and  combinations  in  the  body,  which 
manifest  themselves  in  the  phenomena  of  vitality,  may 


DEPEND  ON  CHEMICAL  CHANGES. 


be  increased  in  intensity  by  chemical  forces  of  analogous 
character,  and  retarded  or  put  an  end  to  by  those  of 
opposite  character  ;  and  that  we  are  enabled  to  exercise 
an  influence  on  every  part  of  an  organ  by  means  of  sub- 
stances possessing  a  well-defined  chemical  action. 

As,  in  the  closed  galvanic  circuit,  in  consequence  of 
certain  changes  which  an  inorganic  body,  a  metal,  un- 
dergoes when  placed  in  contact  with  an  acid,  a  certain 
something  becomes  cognizable  by  our  senses,  which  we 
call  a  current  of  electricity  ;  so,  in  the  animal  body,  in 
consequence  of  transformations  and  changes  undergone 
by  matter  previously  constituting  a  part  of  the  organism, 
certain  phenomena  of  motion  and  activity  are  perceived, 
and  these  we  call  life,  or  vitality. 

The  electrical  current  manifests  itself  in  certain  phe- 
nomena of  attraction  and  repulsion,  which  it  excites  in 
other  bodies  naturally  motionless,  and  by  the  phenom- 
ena of  the  formation  and  decomposition  of  chemical 
compounds,  which  occur  everywhere,  when  the  resist- 
ance is  not  sufficient  to  arrest  the  current. 

It  is  from  this  point  of  view,  and  from  no  other,  that 
chemistry  ought  to  contemplate  the  phenomena  of  life. 
Wonders  surround  us  on  every  side.  The  formation 
of  a  crystal,  of  an  octahedron,  is  not  less  incompre- 
hensible than  the  production  of  a  leaf  or  of  a  muscular 
fibre  ;  and  the  production  of  vermilion,  from  mercury 
and  sulphur,  is  as  much  an  enigma  as  the  formation  of 
an  eye  from  the  substance  of  the  blood. 

The  first  conditions  of  animal  life  are  nutritious  mat- 
ters and  oxygen,  introduced  into  the  system. 


12  OXYGEN  REQUIRED 

At  every  moment  of  his  life  man  is  taking  oxygen 
into  his  system,  by  means  of  the  organs  of  respiration  ; 
no  pause  is  observable  while  life  continues. 

The  observations  of  physiologists  have  shown,  that 
the  body  of  an  adult  man,  supplied  with  sufficient  food, 
has  neither  increased  nor  diminished  in  weight  at  the 
end  of  twenty-four  hours  ;  yet  the  quantity  of  oxygen 
taken  into  the  system  during  this  period  is  very  consid- 
erable. 

According  to  the  experiments  of  Lavoisier,  an  adult 
man  takes  into  his  system,  from  the  atmosphere,  in  one 
year,  746  Ibs.,  according  to  Menzies,  837  Ibs.  of  oxy- 
gen ;  yet  we  find  his  weight,  at  the  beginning  and  end 
of  the  year,  either  quite  the  same,  or  differing,  one  way 
or  the  other,  by  at  most  a  few  pounds,  (i)* 

What,  it  may  be  asked,  has  become  of  the  enormous 
weight  of  oxygen  thus  introduced,  in  the  course  of  a 
year,  into  the  human  system  ? 

This  question  may  be  answered  satisfactorily :  no 
part  of  this  oxygen  remains  in  the  system ;  but  it  is 
given  out  again  in  the  form  of  a  compound  of  carbon  or 
of  hydrogen. 

The  carbon  and  hydrogen  of  certain  parts  of  the 
body  have  entered  into  combination  with  the  oxygen 
introduced  through  the  lungs  and  through  the  skin,  and 
have  been  given  out  in  the  forms  of  carbonic  acid  gas 
and  the  vapor  of  water. 

At  every  moment,  with  every  expiration,  certain 
quantities  of  its  elements  separate  from  the  animal  or- 

*  The  Numbers  refer  to  the  Appendix. 


AS  WELL  AS  FOOD.  13 

ganism,  after  having  entered  into  combination,  within 
the  body,  with  the  oxygen  of  the  atmosphere. 

If  we  assume,  with  Lavoisier  and  Seguin,  in  order 
to  obtain  a  foundation  for  our  calculation,  that  an  adult 
man  receives  into  his  system  daily  32|  oz.  (46,037  cu- 
bic inches  =  15,661  grains,  French  weight)  of  oxygen, 
and  that  the  weight  of  the  whole  mass  of  his  blood,  of 
which  80  per  cent,  is  water,  is  24  Ibs.  ;  it  then  appears, 
from  the  known  composition  of  the  blood,  that,  in  order 
to  convert  the  whole  of  its  carbon  and  hydrogen  into 
carbonic  acid  and  water,  64,103  grains  of  oxygen  are 
required.  This  quantity  will  be  taken  into  the  system 
of  an  adult  in  four  days  two  hours.  (2) 

Whether  this  oxygen  enters  into  combination  with 
the  elements  of  the  blood,  or  with  other  parts  of  the 
body  containing  carbon  and  hydrogen,  in  either  case 
the  conclusion  is  inevitable,  that  the  body  of  a  man, 
who  daily  takes  into  the  system  32|  oz.  of  oxygen,  must 
receive  daily  in  the  shape  of  nourishment,  as  much  car- 
bon and  hydrogen  as  would  suffice  to  supply  24  Ibs.  of 
blood  with  these  elements  ;  it  being  presupposed  that 
the  weight  of  the  body  remains  unchanged,  and  that  it 
retains  its  normal  condition  as  to  health. 

This  supply  is  furnished  in  the  food. 

From  the  accurate  determination  of  the  quantity  of 
carbon  daily  taken  into  the  system  in  the  food,  as  well 
as  of  that  proportion  of  it  which  passes  out  of  the  body 
in  the  faeces  and  urine,  unburned,  that  is,  in  some  form 
in  which  it  is  not  combined  with  oxygen,  it  appears  that 
2 


14  OXYGEN  COMBINES  WITH 

an  adult,  taking  moderate  exercise,  consumes  13.9  oz. 
of  carbon  daily,  (s) 

These  13T90  oz.  of  carbon  escape  through  the  skin 
and  lungs,  as  carbonic  acid  gas. 

For  conversion  into  carbonic  acid  gas,  13T90  oz.  of 
carbon  require  37  oz.  of  oxygen. 

According  to  the  analyses  of  Boussingault  (Ann.  de  Ch. 
et  de  Ph.  LXXI.  p.  136),  a  horse  consumes  in  twenty- 
four  hours  97|  oz.  of  carbon,  a  milch  cow  69T9S  oz. 
The  quantities  of  carbon  here  mentioned  are  those  given 
off  from  the  bodies  of  these  animals  in  the  form  of 
carbonic  acid  ;  and  it  appears  from  them  that  the  horse 
consumes,  in  converting  carbon  into  carbonic  acid, 
13lbs.  3|  oz.  in  twenty-four  hours,  and  the  milch  cow 
11  Ibs.  10|  oz.  of  oxygen  in  the  same  time.  (4) 

Since  no  part  of  the  oxygen  taken  into  the  system  is 
again  given  off  in  any  other  form  but  that  of  a  com- 
pound of  carbon  or  hydrogen  ;  since,  further,  the  car- 
bon and  hydrogen  given  off  are,  in  a  normal  condition 
of  health,  replaced  by  carbon  and  hydrogen  supplied  in 
the  food,  it  is  clear,  that  the  amount  of  nourishment  re- 
quired for  its  support  by  the  animal  body  must  be  in  a 
direct  ratio  to  the  quantity  of  oxygen  taken  into  the 
system. 

Two  animals,  which  in  equal  times  take  up  by  means 
of  the  lungs  and  skin  unequal  quantities  of  oxygen, 
consume  quantities  of  the  same  nourishment,  which  are 
unequal  in  the  same  ratio. 

The  consumption  of  oxygen  in  equal  times  may  be 
expressed  by  the  number  of  respirations  ;  it  is  clear 


THE  CARBON  OF  THE  FOOD.  15 

that,  in  the  same  individual,  the  quantity  of  nourishment 
required  must  vary  with  the  force  and  number  of  the 
respirations. 

A  child,  in  whom  the  organs  of  respiration  are  natural- 
ly in  a  state  of  great  activity,  requires  food  oftener,  and  in 
greater  proportion  to  its  bulk,  than  an  adult,  and  bears 
hunger  less  easily.  A  bird,  deprived  of  food,  dies  on 
the  third  day,  while  a  serpent,  which,  if  kept  under  a 
bell-jar,  hardly  consumes  in  an  hour  so  much  oxygen  as 
that  we  can  detect  the  carbonic  acid  produced,  can  live 
without  food  three  months  and  longer. 

The  number  of  respirations  is  smaller  in  a  state  of 
rest  than  during  exercise  or  work.  The  -quantity  of  food 
necessary  in  both  conditions  must  vary  in  the  same  ratio. 

An  excess  of  food  is  incompatible  with  deficiency 
in  respired  oxygen,  that  is,  with  deficient  exercise  ;  just 
as  violent  exercise,  which  implies  an  increased  supply 
of  food,  is  incompatible  with  weak  digestive  organs.  In 
either  case  the  health  suffers. 

But  the  quantity  of  oxygen  which  an  animal  takes  up 
by  the  lungs,  depends  not  only  on  the  number  of  respi- 
rations ;  it  is  also  affected  by  the  temperature  and  densi- 
ty of  the  atmosphere. 

The  capacity  of  the  chest  in  an  animal  is  a  constant 
quantity.  At  every  respiration  a  quantity  of  air  enters, 
the  volume  of  which  may  be  considered  as  uniform  ;  but 
its  weight,  and  that  of  the  oxygen  it  contains,  is  not 
constant.  Air  is  expanded  by  heat,  and  contracted 
by  cold,  and  equal  volumes  of  hot  and  cold  air  contain 
unequal  weights  of  oxygen.  In  summer  air  contains 
aqueous  vapor,  in  winter  it  is  dry  ;  the  space  occupied 


16  EFFECT  OF  HEAT  ON  THE  OXYGEN  CONSUMED. 

by  vapor  in  warm  air  is  filled  by  air  itself  in  winter  ;  it 
contains,  for  the  same  volume,  more  oxygen  in  winter 
than  in  summer.  In  summer  and  in  winter,  at  the  pole 
and  at  the  equator,  we  respire  an  equal  volume  of  air  ; 
the  cold  air  warmed  during  respiration  in  the  air  passages 
and  pulmonary  cells,  acquires  the  temperature  of  the 
body.  To  introduce  into  the  lungs  a  given  volume  of 
oxygen,  less  expenditure  of  force  is  necessary  in  winter  ; 
and  for  the  same  force,  more  oxygen  is  inspired. 

In  an  equal  number  of  respirations  we  consume  more 
oxygen  at  the  level  of  the  sea  than  on  a  mountain.  The 
quantity  both  of  oxygen  inspired  and  of  carbonic  acid  ex- 
pired, must  therefore  vary  with  the  height  of  the  barometer. 

The  oxygen  taken  into  the  system  is  given  out  again 
in  the  same  forms,  whether  in  summer  or  in  winter  ; 
hence  we  expire  more  carbon  in  cold  weather,  and  when 
the  -barometer  is  high,  than  we  do  in  warm  weather  ; 
and  we  must  consume  more  or  less  carbon  in  our  food 
in  the  same  proportion  ;  in  Sweden  more  tnan  in  Sicily ; 
and  in  our  more  temperate  climate  a  full  eighth  more  in 
winter  than  in  summer. 

Even  when  we  consume  equal  weights  of  food  in 
cold  and  warm  countries,  infinite  wisdom  has  so  ar- 
ranged, that  the  articles  of  food  in  different  climates 
are  most  unequal  in  the  proportion  of  carbon  they  con- 
tain. The  fruits  on  which  the  natives  of  the  south 
prefer  to  feed  do  not  in  the  fresh  state  contain  more 
than  12  per  cent,  of  carbon,  while  the  bacon  and  train 
oil  used  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  arctic  regions  contain 
from  66  to  80  per  cent,  of  carbon. 

It  is  no  difficult  matter,  in  warm  climates,  to  study 


SOURCE  OF  ANIMAL  HEAT.  17 

moderation  in  eating,  and  men  can  bear  hunger  for  a 
long  time  under  the  equator  ;  but  cold  and  hunger  united 
very  soon  exhaust  the  body. 

The  mutual  action  between  the  elements  of  the 
food  and  the  oxygen  conveyed  by  the  circulation  of  the 
blood  to  every  part  of  the  body  is  THE  SOURCE  OF  AN- 
IMAL HEAT. 

III.  All  living  creatures,  whose  existence  depends 
on  the  absorption  of  oxygen,  possess  within  them- 
selves a  source  of  heat  independent  of  surrounding 
objects. 

This  truth  applies  to  all  animals,  and  extends,  be- 
sides, to  the  germination  of  seeds,  to  the  flowering  of 
plants,  and  to  the  maturation  of  fruits. 

It  is  only  in  those  parts  of  the  body  to  which  arterial 
blood,  and  with  it  the  oxygen  absorbed  in  respiration,  is 
conveyed,  that  heat  is  produced.  Hair,  wool,  or  feath- 
ers do  not  possess  an  elevated  temperature. 

This  high  temperature  of  the  animal  body,  or,  as  it 
may  be  called,  disengagement  of  heat,  is  uniformly  and 
under  all  circumstances  the  result  of  the  combination  of 
a  combustible  substance  with  oxygen. 

In  whatever  way  carbon  may  combine  with  oxygen, 
the  act  of  combination  cannot  take  place  without  the 
disengagement  of  heat.  It  is  a  matter  of  indifference 
whether  the  combination  take  place  rapidly  or  slowly,  at 
a  high  or  at  a  low  temperature  ;  the  amount  of  heat 
liberated  is  a  constant  quantity. 

The  carbon  of  the  food,  which  is  converted  into  car- 
2* 


18  RESPIRATION. 

bonic  acid  within  the  body,  must  give  out  exactly  as 
much  heat  as  if  it  had  been  directly  burnt  in  the  air  or 
in  oxygen  gas  ;  the  only  difference  is,  that  the  amount 
of  heat  produced  is  diffused  over  unequal  times.  In 
oxygen,  the  combustion  is  more  rapid,  and  the  heat 
more  intense  ;  in  air  it  is  slower,  the  temperature  is  not 
so  high,  but  it  continues  longer. 

It  is  obvious  that  the  amount  of  heat  liberated  must 
increase  or  diminish  with  the  quantity  of  oxygen  intro- 
duced in  equal  times  by  respiration.  Those  animals 
which  respire  frequently,  and  consequently  consume 
much  oxygen,  possess  a  higher  temperature  than  others, 
which,  with  a  body  of  equal  size  to  be  heated,  take  into 
the  system  less  oxygen.  The  temperature  of  a  child 
(102°)  is  higher  than  that  of  an  adult  (99-5°).  That 
of  birds  (104°  to  105-4°)  is  higher  than  that  of  quad- 
rupeds (98-5°  to  100-4°),  or  than  that  of  fishes  or  am- 
phibia, whose  proper  temperature  is  from  2-7°  to  3-6° 
higher  than  that  of  the  medium  in  which  they  live.  All 
animals,  strictly  speaking,  are  warm-blooded  ;  but  in 
those  only  which  possess  lungs  is  the  temperature  of  the 
body  quite  independent  of  the  surrounding  medium.  (5) 

The  most  trustworthy  observations  prove  that  in  all 
climates,  in  the  temperate  zones  as  well  as  at  the  equa- 
tor or  the  poles,  the  temperature  of  the  body  in  man, 
and  in  what  are  commonly  called  warm-blooded  animals, 
is  invariably  the  same  ;  yet  how  different  are  the  cir- 
cumstances under  which  they  live  ! 

The  animal  body  is  a  heated  mass,  which  bears  the 
same  relation  to  surrounding  objects  as  any  other  heated 


UNIFORM  TEMPERATURE  OF  THE  ANIMAL  BODY.  19 

mass.  It  receives  heat  when  the  surrounding  objects 
are  hotter,  it  loses  heat  when  they  are  colder,  than 
itself. 

We  know  that  the  rapidity  of  cooling  increases  with 
the  difference  between  the  temperature  of  the  heated 
body  and  that  of  the  surrounding  medium  ;  that  is,  the 
colder  the  surrounding  medium  the  shorter  the  time  re- 
quired for  the  cooling  of  the  heated  body. 

How  unequal,  then,  must  be  the  loss  of  heat  in  a 
man  at  Palermo,  where  the  external  temperature  is 
nearly  equal  to  that  of  the  body,  and  in  the  polar  re- 
gions, where  the  external  temperature  is  from  70°  to 
90°  lower. 

Yet,  notwithstanding  this  extremely  unequal  loss  of 
heat,  experience  has  shown,  that  the  blood  of  the  in- 
habitant of  the  arctic  circle  has  a  temperature  as  high  as 
that  of  a  native  of  the  south,  who  lives  in  so  different  a 
medium. 

This  fact,  when  its  true  significance  is  perceived, 
proves  that  the  heat  given  off  to  the  surrounding  medi- 
um is  restored  within  the  body  with  great  rapidity. 
This  compensation  takes  place  more  rapidly  in  winter 
than  in  summer,  at  the  pole  than  at  the  equator. 

Now,  in  different  climates  the  quantity  of  oxygen 
introduced  into  the  system  by  respiration,  as  has  been 
already  shown,  varies  according  to  the  temperature 
of  the  external  air ;  the  quantity  of  inspired  oxygen  in- 
creases with  the  loss  of  heat  by  external  cooling,  and 
the  quantity  of  carbon  or  hydrogen  necessary  to  com- 


20  UNIFORM  TEMPERATURE  OF  THE  ANIMAL  BODY. 

bine  with  this  oxygen  must  be  increased  in  the  same 
ratio. 

It  is  evident,  that  the  supply  of  the  heat  lost  by  cool- 
ing is  effected  by  the  mutual  action  of  the  elements  of 
the  food  and  the  inspired  oxygen,  which  combine  to- 
gether. To  make  use  of  a  familiar,  but  not  on  that 
account  a  less  just  illustration,  the  animal  body  acts,  in 
this  respect,  as  a  furnace,  which  we  supply  with  fuel. 
It  signifies  nothing  what  intermediate  forms  food  may 
assume,  what  changes  it  may  undergo  in  the  body,  the 
last  change  is  uniformly  the  conversion  of  its  carbon  into 
carbonic  acid,  and  of  its  hydrogen  into  water ;  the  un- 
assimilated  nitrogen  of  the  food,  along  with  the  unburned 
or  unoxidized  carbon,  is  expelled  in  the  urine  or  in  the 
solid  excrements.  In  order  to  keep  up  in  the  furnace 
a  constant  temperature,  we  must  vary  the  supply  of  fuel 
according  to  the  external  temperature,  that  is,  according 
to  the  supply  of  oxygen. 

In  the  animal  body  the  food  is  the  fuel ;  with  a  proper 
supply  of  oxygen  we  obtain  the  heat  given  out  during 
its  oxidation  or  combustion.  In  winter,  when  we  take 
exercise  in  a  cold  atmosphere,  and  when  consequently 
the  amount  of  inspired  oxygen  increases,  the  necessity 
for  food  containing  carbon  and  hydrogen  increases  in  the 
same  ratio  ;  and  by  gratifying  the  appetite  thus  excited, 
we  obtain  the  most  efficient  protection  against  the  most 
piercing  cold.  A  starving  man  is  soon  frozen  to  death ; 
and  every  one  knows,  that  the  animals  of  prey  in  the 
arctic  regions  far  exceed  in  voracity  those  of  the  torrid 
zone. 


QUANTITY  OF  FOOD  REGULATED.  21 

In  cold  and  temperate  climates,  the  air,  which  inces- 
santly strives  to  consume  the  body,  urges  man  to  labori- 
ous efforts  in  order  to  furnish  the  means  of  resistance  to 
its  action,  while,  in  hot  climates,  the  necessity  of  labor 
to  provide  food  is  far  less  urgent. 

Our  clothing  is  merely  an  equivalent  for  a  certain 
amount  of  food.  The  more  warmly  we  are  clothed  the 
less  urgent  becomes  the  appetite  for  food,  because  the 
loss  of  heat  by  cooling,  and  consequently  the  amount 
of  heat  to  be  supplied  by  the  food,  is  diminished. 

If  we  were  to  go  naked,  like  certain  savage  tribes,  or 
if  in  hunting  or  fishing  we  were  exposed  to  the  same 
degree  of  cold  as  the  Samoyedes,  we  should  be  able 
with  ease  to  consume  10  Ibs.  of  flesh,  and  perhaps  a 
dozen  of  tallow  candles  into  the  bargain,  daily,  as  warm- 
ly clad  travellers  have  related  with  astonishment  of  these 
people.  We  should  then  also  be  able  to  take  the  same 
quantity  of  brandy  or  train  oil  without  bad  effects,  be- 
cause the  carbon  and  hydrogen  of  these  substances 
would  only  suffice  to  keep  up  the  equilibrium  between 
the  external  temperature  and  that  of  our  bodies. 

According  to  the  preceding  expositions,  the  quantity 
of  food  is  regulated  by  the  number  of  respirations,  by 
the  temperature  of  the  air,  and  by  the  amount  of  heat 
given  off  to  the  surrounding  medium. 

No  isolated  fact,  apparently  opposed  to  this  statement 
can  affect  the  truth  of  this  natural  law.  Without  tem- 
porary or  permanent  injury  to  health,  the  Neapolitan 
cannot  take  more*  carbon  and  hydrogen  in  the  shape  of 
food  than  he  expires  as  carbonic  acid  and  water ;  and 


22  QUANTITY  OF  FOOD  REGULATED. 

the  Esquimaux  cannot  expire  more  carbon  and  hydrogen 
than  he  takes  into  the  system  as  food,  unless  in  a  state 
of  disease  or  of  starvation.  Let  us  examine  these  states 
a  little  more  closely. 

The  Englishman  in  Jamaica  sees  with  regret  the  dis- 
appearance of  his  appetite,  previously  a  source  of  fre- 
quently recurring  enjoyment  ;  and  he  succeeds,  by  the 
use  of  cayenne  pepper  and  the  most  powerful  stimulants, 
in  enabling  himself  to  take  as  much  food  as  he  was  ac- 
customed to  eat  at  home.  But  the  whole  of  the  carbon 
thus  introduced  into  the  system  is  not  consumed  ;  the 
temperature  of  the  air  is  too  high,  and  the  oppressive 
heat  does  not  allow  him  to  increase  the  number  of  res- 
pirations by  active  exercise,  and  thus  to  proportion  the 
waste  to  the  amount  of  food  taken  ;  disease  of  some 
kind,  therefore,  ensues. 

On  the  other  hand,  England  sends  her  sick,  whose 
diseased  digestive  organs  have  in  a  greater  or  less  de- 
gree lost  the  power  of  bringing  the  food  into  that  state 
in  which  it  is  best  adapted  for  oxidation,  and  therefore 
furnish  less  resistance  to  the  oxidizing  agency  of  the 
atmosphere  than  is  required  in  their  native  climate,  to 
southern  regions,  where  the  amount  of  inspired  oxygen 
is  diminished  in  so  great  a  proportion  ;  and  the  result, 
an  improvement  in  the  health,  is  obvious.  The  dis- 
eased organs  of  digestion  have  sufficient  power  to  place 
the  diminished  amount  of  food  in  equilibrium  with  the 
inspired  oxygen  ;  in  the  colder  climate,  the  organs  of 
respiration  themselves  would  have  been  consumed  in 


IMPORTANCE  OF  HYDROGEN.  23 

furnishing  the  necessary  resistance  to  the  action  of  the 
atmospheric  oxygen. 

In  our  climate,  hepatic  diseases,  or  those  arising  from 
excess  of  carbon,  prevail  in  summer  ;  in  winter,  pul- 
monic  diseases,  or  those  arising  from  excess  of  oxygen, 
are  more  frequent. 

The  cooling  of  the  body,  by  whatever  cause  it  may 
be  produced,  increases  the  amount  of  food  necessary. 
The  mere  exposure  to  the  open  air,  in  a  carriage  or  on 
the  deck  of  a  ship,  by  increasing  radiation  and  vaporiza- 
tion, increases  the  loss  of  heat,  and  compels  us  to  eat 
more  than  usual.  The  same  is  true  of  those  who  are 
accustomed  to  drink  large  quantities  of  cold  water, 
which  is  given  off  at  the  temperature  of  the  body,  98'5°. 
It  increases  the  appetite,  and  persons  of  weak  constitu- 
tion find  it  necessary,  by  continued  exercise,  to  supply 
to  the  system  the  oxygen  required  to  restore  the  heat 
abstracted  by  the  cold  water.  Loud  and  long  continued 
speaking,  the  crying  of  infants,  moist  air,  all  exert  a 
decided  and  appreciable  influence  on  the  amount  of  food 
which  is  taken. 

IV.  In  the  foregoing  pages,  it  has  been  assumed,  that 
it  is  especially  carbon  and  hydrogen,  which,  by  com- 
bining with  oxygen,  serve  to  produce  animal  heat.  In 
fact,  observation  proves  that  the  hydrogen  of  the  food 
plays  a  not  less  important  part  than  the  carbon. 

The  whole  process  of  respiration  appears  most  clear- 
ly developed,  when  we  consider  the  state  of  a  man,  or 
other  animal,  totally  deprived  of  food. 


24  EFFECTS  OF  STARVATION. 

The  first  effect  of  starvation  is  the  disappearance  of 
fat,  and  this  fat  cannot  be  traced  either  in  the  urine  or 
in  the  scanty  faeces.  Its  carbon  and  hydrogen  have 
been  given  off  through  the  skin  and  lungs  in  the  form 
of  oxidized  products  ;  it  is  obvious,  that  they  have 
served  to  support  respiration. 

In  the  case  of  a  starving  man,  32|  oz.  of  oxygen 
enter  the  system  daily,  and  are  given  out  again  in  com- 
bination with  a  part  of  his  body.  Currie  mentions  the 
case  of  an  individual  who  was  unable  to  swallow,  and 
whose  body  lost  100  Ibs.  in  weight  during  a  month  ; 
and,  according  to  Martell  (Trans.  Linn.  Soc.,  vol.  xi. 
p.  411),  a  fat  pig,  overwhelmed  in  a  slip  of  earth,  lived 
160  days  without  food,  and  was  found  to  have  dimin- 
ished in  weight,  in  that  time,  more  than  120  Ibs.  The 
whole  history  of  hybernating  animals,  and  the  well- 
established  facts  of  the  periodical  accumulation,  in  vari- 
ous animals,  of  fat,  which,  at  other  periods,  entirely 
disappears,  prove  that  the  oxygen,  in  the  respiratory 
process,  consumes,  without  exception,  all  such  substan- 
ces as  are  capable  of  entering  into  combination  with  it. 
It  combines  with  whatever  is  presented  to  it ;  and  the 
deficiency  of  hydrogen  is  the  only  reason  why  carbonic 
acid  is  the  chief  product  ;  for,  at  the  temperature  of  the 
body,  the  affinity  of  hydrogen  for  oxygen  far  surpasses 
that  of  carbon  for  the  same  element. 

We  know  in  fact,  that  the  graminivora  expire  a  vol- 
ume of  carbonic  acid  equal  to  that  of  the  oxygen  in- 
spired, while  the  carnivora,  the  only  class  of  animals 
whose  food  contains  fat,  inspire  more  oxygen  than  is 


EFFECTS  OF  STARVATION.  25 

equal  in  volume  to  the  carbonic  acid  expired.  Exact 
experiments  have  shown,  that  in  many  cases  only  half 
the  volume  of  oxygen  is  expired  in  the  form  of  carbonic 
acid.  These  observations  cannot  be  gainsaid,  and  are 
far  more  convincing  than  those  arbitrary  and  artificially 
produced  phenomena,  sometimes  called  experiments  ; 
experiments  which,  made  as  too  often  they  are,  without 
regard  to  the  necessary  and  natural  conditions,  possess 
no  value,  and  may  be  entirely  dispensed  with  ;  especial- 
ly when,  as  in  the  present  case,  nature  affords  the  op- 
portunity for  observation,  and  when  we  make  a  rational 
use  of  that  opportunity. 

In  the  progress  of  starvation,  however,  it  is  not  only 
the  fat  which  disappears,  but  also,  by  degrees,  all  such 
of  the  solids  as  are  capable  of  being  dissolved.  In  the 
wasted  bodies  of  those  who  have  suffered  starvation, 
the  muscles  are  shrunk  and  unnaturally  soft,  and  hav& 
lost  their  contractility ;  all  those  parts  of  the  body 
which  were  capable  of  entering  into  the  state  of  motion 
have  served  to  protect  the  remainder  of  the  frame  from 
the  destructive  influence  of  the  atmosphere.  Towards 
the  end,  the  particles  of  the  brain  begin  to  undergo  the 
process  of  oxidation,  and  delirium,  mania,  and  death 
close  the  scene  ;  that  is  to  say,  all  resistance  to  the 
oxidizing  power  of  the  atmospheric  oxygen  ceases,  and 
the  chemical  process  of  eremacausis,  or  decay,  com- 
mences, in  which  every  part  of  the  body,  the  bones 
excepted,  enters  into  combination  with  oxygen. 

The  time  which  is  required  to  cause  death  by  starva- 
tion depends  on  the  amount  of  fat  in  the  body,  on  the 
3 


26  DEATH  CAUSED  BY  RESPIRATION. 

degree  of  exercise,  as  in  labor  or  exertion  of  any  kind, 
on  the  temperature  of  the  air,  and  finally,  on  the  pres- 
ence or  absence  of  water.  Through  the  skin  and  lungs 
there  escapes  a  certain  quantity  of  water,  and  as  the 
presence  of  water  is  essential  to  the  continuance  of  the 
vital  motions,  its  dissipation  hastens  death.  Cases  have 
occurred,  in  which  a  full  supply  of  water  being  accessi- 
ble to  the  sufferer,  death  has  not  occurred  till  after  the 
lapse  of  twenty  days.  In  one  case,  life  was  sustained 
in  this  way  for  the  period  of  sixty  days. 

In  all  chronic  diseases  death  is  produced  by  the  same 
cause,  namely,  the  chemical  action  of  the  atmosphere. 
When  those  substances  are  wanting,  whose  function  in 
the  organism  is  to  ,  support  the  process  of  respiration ; 
when  the  diseased  organs  are  incapable  of  performing 
their  proper  function  of  producing  these  substances  ; 
when  they  have  lost  the  power  of  transforming  the  food 
into  that  shape  in  which  it  may,  by  entering  into  combi- 
nation with  the  oxygen  of  the  air,  protect  the  system 
from  its  influence,  then,  the  substance  of  the  organs 
themselves,  the  fat  of  the  body,  the  substance  of  the 
muscles,  the  nerves,  and  the  brain,  are  unavoidably  con- 
sumed. * 

The  true  cause  of  death  in  these  cases  is  the  respira- 
tory process,  that  is,  the  action  of  the  atmosphere. 

A  deficiency  of  food,  and  a  want  of  power  to  con- 
vert the  food  into  a  part  of  the.  organism,  are  both, 

*  For  an  account  of  what  really  takes  place  in  this  process,  I  refer 
to  the  considerations  on  the  means  by  which  the  change  of  matter  is 
effected  in  the  body  of  the  carnivora,  which  will  be  found  further  on. 


RESPIRATION  TENDS  TO  CONSUME  THE  BODY.  27 

equally,  a  want  of  resistance  ;  and  this  is  the  negative 
cause  of  the  cessation  of  the  vital  process.  The  flame 
is  extinguished,  because  the  oil  is  consumed  ;  and  it  is 
the  oxygen  of  the  air  which  has  consumed  it. 

In  many  diseases  substances  are  produced  which  are 
incapable  of  assimilation.  By  the  mere  deprivation  of 
food,  these  substances  are  removed  from  the  body  with- 
out leaving  a  trace  behind  ;  their  elements  have  entered 
into  combination  with  the  oxygen  of  the  air. 

From  the  first  moment  that  the  function  of  the  lungs 
or  of  the  skin  is  interrupted  or  disturbed,  compounds, 
rich  in  carbon,  appear  in  the  urine,  which  acquires  a 
brown  color.  Over  the  whole  surface  of  the  body  oxy- 
gen is  absorbed,  and  combines  with  all  the  substances 
which  offer  no  resistance  to  it.  In  those  parts  of  the 
body  where  the  access  of  oxygen  is  impeded  ;  for  ex- 
ample, in  the  arm-pits,  or  in  the  soles  of  the  feet, 
peculiar  compounds  are  given  out,  recognisable  by  their 
appearance,  or  by  their  odor.  These  compounds  con- 
tain much  carbon. 

Respiration  is  the  falling  weight,  the  bent  spring, 
which  keeps  the  clock  in  motion  ;  the  inspirations  and 
expirations  are  the  strokes  of  the  pendulum  which  regu- 
late it.  In  our  ordinary  time-pieces,  we  know  with 
mathematical  accuracy  the  effect  produced  on  their  rate 
of  going,  by  changes  in  the  length  of  the  pendulum,  or 
in  the  external  temperature.  Few,  however,  have  a 
clear  conception  of  the  influence  of  air  and  temperature 
on  the  health  of  the  human  body  ;  and  yet  the  research 


28  NERVES  AND  MUSCLES 

into   the  conditions  necessary  to  keep  it  in  the  normal 
state,  is  not  more  difficult  than  in  the  case  of  a  clock. 

V.  The  want  of  a  just  conception  of  force  and 
effect,  and  of  the  connexion  of  natural  phenomena,  has 
led  chemists  to  attribute  a  part  of  the  heat  generated  in 
the  animal  body  to  the  action  of  the  nervous  system. 
If  this  view  exclude  chemical  action,  or  changes  in  the 
arrangement  of  the  elementary  particles,  as  a  condition 
of  nervous  agency,  it  means  nothing  else  than  to  derive 
the  presence  of  motion,  the  manifestation  of  a  force, 
from  nothing.  But  no  force,  no  power  can  come  of 
nothing. 

No  one  will  seriously  deny  the  share  which  the  ner- 
vous apparatus  has  in  the  respiratory  process  ;  for  no 
change  of  condition  can  occur  in  the  body  without  the 
nerves  ;  they  are  essential  to  all  vital  motions.  Under 
their  influence,  the  viscera  produce  those  compounds, 
which,  while  they  protect  the  organism  from  the  action 
of  the  oxygen  of  the  atmosphere,  give  rise  to  animal 
heat ;  and  when  the  nerves  cease  to  perform  their  func- 
tions, the  whole  process  of  the  action  of  oxygen  must 
assume  another  form.  When  the  pons  Varolii  is  cut 
through  in  the  dog,  or  when  a  stunning  blow  is  inflicted 
on  the  back  of  the  head,  the  animal  continues  to  respire 
for  some  time,  often  more  rapidly  than  in  the  normal 
state  ;  the  frequency  of  the  pulse  at  first  rather  increases 
than  diminishes,  yet  the  animal  cools  as  rapidly  as  if 
sudden  death  had  occurred.  Exactly  similar  observa- 
tions have  been  made  on  the  cutting  of  the  spinal  cord, 


NOT  THE  SOURCE  OF  ANIMAL  HEAT.          29 

and  of  the  par  vagum.  The  respiratory  motions  con- 
tinue for  a  time,  but  the  oxygen  does  not  meet  with 
those  substances  with  which,  in  the  normal  state,  it 
would  have  combined  ;  because  the  paralyzed  viscera 
will  no  longer  furnish  them.  The  singular  idea,  that  the 
nerves  produce  animal  heat,  has  obviously  arisen  from 
the  notion,  that  the  inspired  oxygen  combines  with  car- 
bon, in  the  blood  itself ;  in  which  case  the  temperature 
of  the  body,  in  the  above  experiments,  certainly,  ought 
not  to  have  sunk.  But,  as  we  shall  afterwards  see, 
there  cannot  be  a  more  erroneous  conception  than  this. 

As,  by  the  division  of  the  pneumogastric  nerves,  the 
motion  of  the  stomach  and  the  secretion  of  the  gastric 
juice  are  arrested,  and  an  immediate  check  is  thus  given 
to  the  process  of  digestion,  so  the  paralysis  of  the  or- 
gans of  vital  motion  in  the  abdominal  viscera  affects  the 
process  of  respiration.  These  processes  are  most  in- 
timately connected  ;  and  every  disturbance  of  the  ner- 
vous system  or  of  the  nerves  of  digestion  reacts  visibly 
on  the  process  of  respiration. 

The  observation  has  been  made,  that  heat  is  pro- 
duced by  the  contraction  of  the  muscles,  just  as  in  a 
piece  of  caoutchouc,  which,  when  rapidly  drawn  out, 
forcibly  contracts  again,  with  disengagement  of  heat. 
Some  have  gone  so  far  as  to  ascribe  a  part  of  the 
animal  heat  to  the  mechanical  motions  of  the  body,  as 
if  these  motions  could  exist  without  an  expenditure  of 
force  consumed  in  producing  them  ;  how  then,  we  may 
ask,  is  this  force  produced  ? 

By  the  combustion  of  carbon,  by  the  solution  of 
3* 


30  SOURCES  OF  HEAT. 

a  metal  in  an  acid,  by  the  combination  of  the  two 
electricities,  positive  and  negative,  by  the  absorption 
of  light,  and  even  by  the  rubbing  of  two  solid  bodies 
together  with  a  certain  degree  of  rapidity,  heat  may 
be  produced. 

By  a  number  of  causes,  in  appearance  entirely  dis- 
tinct, we  can  thus  produce  one  and  the  same  effect. 
In  combustion  and  in  the  production  of  galvanic  elec- 
tricity we  have  a  change  of  condition  in  material  par- 
ticles ;  when  heat  is  produced  by  the  absorption  of 
light  or  by  friction,  we  have  the  conversion  of  one 
kind  of  motion  into  another,  which  affects  our  senses 
differently.  In  all  such  cases  we  have  a  something 
given,  which  merely  takes  another  form  ;  in  all  we  have 
a  force  and  its  effect.  By  means  of  the  fire  which 
heats  the  boiler  of  a  steam-engine  we  can  produce 
every  kind  of  motion,  and  by  a  certain  amount  of  mo- 
tion we  can  produce  fire. 

When  we  rub  a  piece  of  sugar  briskly  on  an  iron 
grater,  it  undergoes,  at  the  surfaces  of  contact,  the 
same  change  as  if  exposed  to  heat ;  and  two  pieces 
of  ice,  when  rubbed  together,  melt  at  the  point  of 
contact. 

Let  us  remember,  that  the  most  distinguished  author- 
ities in  physics  consider  the  phenomena  of  heat  as 
phenomena  of  motion,  because  the  very  conception  of 
the  creation  of  matter,  even  though  imponderable,  is 
absolutely  irreconcilable  with  its  production  by  me- 
chanical causes,  such  as  friction  or  motion. 

But,   admitting   all   the    influence  which   electric  or 


SOURCE  OF  ANIMAL  HEAT.  31 

magnetic  disturbances  in  the  animal  body  can  have  on 
the  functions  of  its  organs,  still  the  ultimate  cause  of 
all  these  forces  is  a  change  of  condition  in  material 
particles,  which  may  be  expressed  by  the  conversion, 
within  a  certain  time,  of  the  elements  of  the  food  into 
oxidized  products.  Such  of  these  elements  as  do  not 
undergo  this  process  of  slow  combustion,  are  given  off 
unburned  or  incombustible  in  the  excrements. 

Now,  it  is  absolutely  impossible  that  a  given  amount 
of  carbon  or  hydrogen,  whatever  different  forms  they 
may  assume  in  the  progress  of  the  combustion,  can 
produce  more  heat  than  if  directly  burned  in  atmos- 
pheric air  or  in  oxygen  gas. 

When  we  kindle  a  fire  under  a  steam-engine,  and 
employ  the  power  obtained  to  produce  heat  by  friction, 
it  is  impossible  that  the  heat  thus  obtained  can  ever 
be  greater  than  that  which  was  required  to  heat  the 
boiler  ;  and  if  we  use  the  galvanic  current  to  produce 
heat,  the  amount  of  heat  obtained  is  never,  in  any  cir- 
cumstances, greater  than  we  might  have  by  the  combus- 
tion of  the  zinc  which  has  been  dissolved  in  the  acid. 

The  contraction  of  muscles  produces  heat ;  but  the 
force  necessary  for  the  contraction  has  manifested  itself 
through  the  organs  of  motion,  in  which  it  has  been  ex- 
cited by  chemical  changes.  The  ultimate  cause  of 
the  heat  produced  is,  therefore,  to  be  found  in  these 
chemical  changes. 

By  dissolving  a  metal  in  an  acid,  we  produce  an 
electrical  current  ;  this  current,  if  passed  through  a 
wire,  converts  the  wire  into  a  magnet,  by  means  of 


32  GREAT  AMOUNT 

which  many  different  effects  may  be  produced.  The 
cause  of  these  phenomena  is  magnetism  ;  the  cause  of 
the  magnetic  phenomena  is  to  be  found  in  the  electrical 
current ;  and  the  ultimate  cause  of  the  electrical  current 
is  found  to  be  a  chemical  change,  a  chemical  action. 

There  are  various  causes  by  which  force  or  motion 
may  be  produced.  A  bent  spring,  a  current  of  air,  the 
fall  of  water,  fire  applied  to  a  boiler,  the  solution  of  a 
metal  in  an  acid,  —  all  these  different  causes  of  motion 
may  be  made  to  produce  the  same  effect.  But  in  the 
animal  body  we  recognise  as  the  ultimate  cause  of  all 
force  only  one  cause,  the  chemical  action  which  the 
elements  of  the  food  and  the  oxygen  of  the  air  mu- 
tually exercise  on  each  other.  The  only  known  ulti- 
mate cause  of  vital  force,  either  in  animals  or  in  plants, 
is  a  chemical  process.  If  this  be  prevented,  the  phe- 
nomena of  life  do  not  manifest  themselves,  or  they 
cease  to  be  recognisable  by  our  senses.  If  the  chem- 
ical action  be  impeded,  the  vital  phenomena  must  take 
new  forms. 

According  to  the  experiments  of  Despretz,  1  oz.  of 
carbon  evolves,  during  its  combustion,  as  much  heat  as 
would  raise  the  temperature  of  78*15  oz.  of  water  at 
32°  to  212°,  that  is,  by  ISO  degrees ;  in  all,  therefore, 
78-15  times  180°=  14067  degrees  of  heat.  Conse- 
quently, the  13-9  oz.  of  carbon,  which  are  daily  con- 
verted into  carbonic  acid  in  the  body  of  an  adult, 
evolve  13-9  X  14067°=  195531-3  degrees  of  heat. 
This  amount  of  heat  is  sufficient  to  raise  the  tempera- 
ture of  1  oz.  of  water  by  that  number  of  degrees,  or 


OF  ANIMAL  HEAT.  33 

from  32°  to  195563-3°;  or  to  cause  67-9  Ibs.  of  wa- 
ter at  32°  to  boil;  or  to  heat  184-3  Ibs.  of  water  to 
98-3°  (the  temperature  of  the  human  body)  ;  or  to 
convert  into  vapor  11-4  Ibs.  of  water  at  98-3°. 

If  we  now  assume,  that  the  quantity  of  water  vapor- 
ized through  the  skin  and  lungs  in  24  hours  amounts  to 
48  oz.  (3  Ibs.),  then  there  will  remain,  after  deducting 
the  necessary  amount  of  heat,  144137-7  *  degrees  of 
heat,  which  are  dissipated  by  radiation,  by  heating  the 
expired  air,  and  in  the  excrementitious  matters. 

In  this  calculation,  no  account  has  been  taken  of  the 
heat  evolved  by  the  hydrogen  of  the  food,  during  its 
conversion  into  water  by  oxidation  within  the  body. 
But  if  we  consider,  that  the  specific  heat  of  the  bones, 
of  fat,  and  of  the  organs  generally,  is  far  less  than  that 
of  water,  and  that  consequently  they  require,  in  order 
to  be  heated  to  98-3°,  much  less  heat  than  an  equal 
weight  of  water,  no  doubt  can  be  entertained,  that  when 
all  the  concomitant  circumstances  are ,  included  in  the 
calculation,  the  heat  evolved  in  the  process  of  combus- 
tion, to  which  the  food  is  subjected  in  the  body,  is 
amply  sufficient  to  explain  the  constant  temperature  of 
the  body,  as  well  as  the  evaporation  from  the  skin  and 
lungs. 

VI.  All  experiments  hitherto  made  on  the  quantity 
of  oxygen  which  an  animal  consumes  in  a  given  time, 
and  also  the  conclusions  deduced  from  them  as  to  the 

*  In  the  above,  the  latent  heat  of  vapor  at  212°  is  taken,  according 
to  Despretz,  at  955.8. 


34  AMOUNT  OF  OXYGEN 

origin  of  animal  heat,  are  destitute  of  practical  value  in 
regard  to  this  question,  since  we  have  seen,  that  the 
quantity  of  oxygen  consumed  varies  according  to  the 
temperature  and  density  of  the  air,  according  to  the 
degree  of  motion,  labor,  or  exercise,  to  the  amount  and 
quality  of  the  food,  to  the  comparative  warmth  of  the 
clothing,  and  also  according  to  the  time  within  which 
the  food  is  taken.  Prisoners  in  the  Bridewell  at  Ma- 
rienschloss  (a  prison  where  labor  is  enforced),  do  not 
consume  more  than  10-5  oz.  of  carbon  daily  ;  those  in 
the  House  of  Arrest  at  Giessen,  who  are  deprived  of 
all  exercise,  consume  only  8-5  oz.  ;  (6)  and  in  a  family 
well  known  to  me,  consisting  of  nine  individuals,  five 
adults,  and  four  children  of  different  ages,  the  average 
daily  consumption  of  carbon  for  each,  is  not  more  than 
9' 5  oz.  of  carbon.*  We  may  safely  assume,  as  an 
approximation,  that  the  quantities  of  oxygen  consumed 
in  these  different  cases  are  in  the  ratio  of  these  num- 
bers ;  but  where  the  food  contains  meat,  fat,  and  wine, 
the  proportions  are  altered  by  reason  of  the  hydrogen 
in  these  kinds  of  food  which  is  oxidized,  and  which,  in 
being  converted  into  water,  evolves  much  more  heat 
for  equal  weights. 

The  attempts  to  ascertain  the  amount  of  heat  evolved 
in  an  animal  for  a  given   consumption  of  oxygen   have 

*  In  this  family,  the  monthly  consumption  was  151  Ibs.  of  brown 
bread,  70  Ibs.  white  bread,  132  Ibs.  meat,  19  Ibs.  sugar,  159  Ibs.  but- 
ter, 57  maass  (about  24  gallons)  of  milk  ;  the  carbon  of  the  potatoes 
and  other  vegetables,  of  the  poultry,  game,  and  wine  consumed,  hav- 
ing been  reckoned  as  equal  to  that  contained  in  the  excrementitious 
matters,  the  carbon  of  the  above  articles  was  considered  as  being 
converted  into  carbonic  acid.  —  L. 


CONSUMED  BY  ANIMALS.  35 

been  equally  unsatisfactory.  Animals  have  been  al- 
lowed to  respire  in  close  chambers  surrounded  with 
cold  water  ;  the  increase  of  temperature  in  the  water 
has  been  measured  by  the  thermometer,  and  the  quan- 
tity of  oxygen  consumed  has  been  calculated  from  the 
analysis  of  the  air  before  and  after  the  experiment.  In 
experiments  thus  conducted,  it  has  been  found  that  the 
animal  lost  about  ^  more  heat  than  corresponded  to  the 
oxygen  consumed  ;  and  had  the  windpipe  of  the  animal 
been  tied,  the  strange  result  would  have  been  obtained 
of  a  rise  in  the  temperature  of  the  water  without  any 
consumption  of  oxygen.  The  animal  was  at  the  tem- 
perature of  98°  or  99°,  and  the  water,  in  the  experi- 
ments of  Despretz,  was  at  47*5°.  Such  experiments 
consequently  prove,  that  when  a  great  difference  exists 
between  the  temperature  of  the  animal  body  and  that 
of  the  surrounding  medium,  and  when  no  motion  is  al- 
lowed, more  heat  is  given  off  than  corresponds  to  the 
oxygen  consumed.  In  equal  times,  with  free  and  un- 
impeded motion,  a  much  larger  quantity  of  oxygen 
would  be  consumed  without  a  perceptible  increase  in 
the  amount  of  heat  lost.  The  cause  of  these  phenom- 
ena is  obvious.  They  appear  naturally  both  in  man  and 
animals  at  certain  seasons  of  the  year,  and  we  say  in 
such  cases  that  we  are  freezing,  or  experience  the  sen- 
sation of  cold.  It  is  plain,  that  if  we  were  to  clothe  a 
man  in  a  metallic  dress,  and  tie  up  his  hands  and  feet, 
the  loss  of  heat,  for  the  same  consumption  of  oxygen, 
would  be  far  greater  than  if  we  were  to  wrap  him  up  in 
fur  and  woollen  cloth.  Nay,  in  the  latter  case,  we 


36  NERVOUS  AND 

should  see  him  begin  to  perspire,  and  warm  water 
would  exude,  in  drops,  through  the  finest  pores  of  his 
skin. 

If  to  these  considerations  we  add,  that  decisive  ex- 
periments are  on  record,  in  which  animals  were  made  to 
respire  in  an  unnatural  position,  as  for  example,  lying  on 
the  back,  with  the  limbs  tied  so  as  to  preclude  motion, 
and  that  the  temperature  of  their  bodies  was  found  to 
sink  in  a  degree  appreciable  by  the  thermometer,  we 
can  hardly  be  at  a  loss  what  value  we  ought  to  attach  to 
the  conclusions  drawn  from  such  experiments  as  those 
above  described. 

These  experiments  and  the  conclusions  deduced  from 
them,  in  short,  are  incapable  of  furnishing  the  smallest 
support  to  the  opinion  that  there  exists,  in  the  animal 
body,  any  other  unknown  source  of  heat,  besides  the 
mutual  chemical  action  between  the  elements  of  the  food 
and  the  oxygen  of  the  air.  The  existence  of  the  latter 
cannot  be  doubted  or  denied,  and  it  is  amply  sufficient 
to  explain  all  the  phenomena. 

VII.  If  we  designate  the  production  of  force,  the 
phenomena  of  motion  in  the  animal  body  as  nervous  life, 
and  the  resistance,  the  condition  of  static  equilibrium, 
as  vegetative  life ;  it  is  obvious  that  in  all  classes  of  ani- 
mals, the  latter,  namely,  vegetative  life,  prevails  over 
the  former,  nervous  life,  in  the  earlier  stages  of  ex- 
istence. 

The  passage  or  change  of  matter  from  a  state  of  mo- 
tion to  a  state  of  rest,  appears  in  an  increase  of  the 


VEGETATIVE  LIFE.  37 

mass,  and  in  the  supply  of  waste  ;  while  the  motion 
itself,  or  the  production  of  force,  appears  in  the  shape 
of  waste  of  matter. 

In  a  young  animal,  the  waste  is  less  than  the  increase  ; 
and  the  female  retains,  up  to  a  certain  age,  this  peculiar 
condition  of  a  more  intense  vegetative  life.  This  con- 
dition does  not  cease  in  the  female  as  in  the  male,  with 
the  complete  development  of  all  the  organs  of  the  body. 

The  female  in  the  lower  animals,  is,  at  certain  sea- 
sons, capable  of  reproduction  of  the  species.  The 
vegetative  life  in  her  organism  is  rendered  more  intense 
by  certain  external  conditions,  such  as  temperature, 
food,  &c.  ;  the  organism  produces  more  than  is  wasted, 
and  the  result  is  the  capacity  of  reproduction. 

In  the  human  species,  the  female  organism  is  inde- 
pendent of  those  external  causes,  which  increase  the  in- 
tensity of  vegetative  life.  When  the  organism  is  fully 
developed,  it  is  at  all  times  capable  of  reproduction  of 
the  species  ;  and  infinite  wisdom  has  given  to  the  female 
body  the  power,  up  to  a  certain  age,  of  producing  all 
parts  of  its  organization  in  greater  quantity  than  is  re- 
quired to  supply  the  daily  waste. 

This  excess  of  production  can  be  shown  to  contain 
all  the  elements  of  a  new  organism  ;  it  is  constantly  ac- 
cumulating, and  is  periodically  expelled  from  the  body, 
until  it  is  expended  in  reproduction.  This  periodical 
discharge  ceases  when  the  ovum  has  been  impregnated, 
and  from  this  time  every  drop  of  the  superabundant 
blood  goes  to  produce  an  organism  like  that  of  the 
mother. 

4 


38  NUTRITION  DEPENDS  ON  THE 

Exercise  and  labor  cause  a  diminution  in  the  quantity 
of  the  menstrual  discharge  ;  and  when  it  is  suppressed 
in  consequence  of  disease,  the  vegetative  life  is  mani- 
fested in  a  morbid  production  of  fat.  When  the  equi- 
librium between  the  vegetative  and  nervous  life  is  dis- 
turbed in  the  male,  when,  as  in  eunuchs,  the  intensity 
of  the  latter  is  diminished,  the  predominance  of  the 
former  is  shown  in  the  same  form,  in  an  increased 
deposit  of  fat. 

VIII.  If  we  hold,  that  increase  of  mass  in  the  ani- 
mal body,  the  development  of  its  organs,  and  the  supply 
of  waste,  —  that  all  this  is  dependent  on  the  blood,  that 
is,  on  the  ingredients  of  the  blood,  then  only  those  sub- 
stances can  properly  be  called  nutritious,  or  considered 
as  food,  which  are  capable  of  conversion  into  blood. 
To  determine,  therefore,  what  substances  are  capable 
of  affording  nourishment,  it  is  only  necessary  to  ascer- 
tain the  composition  of  the  food,  and  to  compare  it  with 
that  of  the  ingredients  of  the  blood. 

Two  substances  require  especial  consideration  as  the 
chief  ingredients  of  the  blood  ;  one  of  these  separates 
immediately  from  the  blood  when  withdrawn  from  the 
circulation.  It  is  well  known  that  in  this  case  blood 
coagulates,  and  separates  into  a  yellowish  liquid,  the 
serum  of  the  blood,  and  a  gelatinous  mass,  which  adheres 
to  a  rod  or  stick,  in  soft,  elastic  fibres,  when  coagulating 
blood  is  briskly  stirred.  This  is  the  fibrine  of  the  blood, 
which  is  identical  in  all  its  properties  with  muscular 
fibre,  when  the  latter  is  purified  from  all  foreign  matters. 


CONSTITUENTS  OF  BLOOD.  39 

The  second  principal  ingredient  of  the  blood  is  con- 
tained in  the  serum,  and  gives  to  this  liquid  all  the 
properties  of  the  white  of  eggs,  with  which  it  is  identi- 
cal. When  heated,  it  coagulates  into  a  white  elastic 
mass,  and  the  coagulating  substance  is  called  albumen. 

Fibrine  and  albumen,  the  chief  ingredients  of  blood, 
contain,  in  all,  seven  chemical  elements,  among  which 
nitrogen,  phosphorus,  and  sulphur  are  found.  They 
contain  also  the  earth  of  bones.  The  serum  retains  in 
solution  sea  salt  and  other  salts  of  potash  and  soda,  in 
which  the  acids  are  carbonic,  phosphoric,  and  sulphuric 
acids.  The  globules  of  the  blood  contain  fibrine  and 
albumen,  along  with  a  red  coloring  matter,  in  which 
iron  is  a  constant  element.  Besides  these,  the  blood 
contains  certain  fatty  bodies  in  small  quantity,  which 
differ  from  ordinary  fats  in  several  of  their  properties. 

Chemical  analysis  has  led  to  the  remarkable  result, 
that  fibrine  and  albumen  contain  the  same  organic  ele- 
ments united  in  the  same  proportion,  so  that  two  analy- 
ses, the  one  of  fibrine  and  the  other  of  albumen,  do 
not  differ  more  than  two  analyses  of  fibrine  or  two  of 
albumen  respectively  do,  in  the  composition  of  100 
parts.  .  • 

In  these  two  ingredients  of  blood  the  particles  are 
arranged  in  a  different  order,  as  is  shown  by  the  dif- 
ference of  their  external  properties  ;  but  in  chemical 
composition,  in  the  ultimate  proportion  of  the  organic 
elements,  they  are  identical. 

This  conclusion  has  lately  been  beautifully  confirmed 
by  a  distinguished  physiologist  (Denis),  who  has  sue- 


40  NUTRITION  DEPENDS  ON  THE 

ceeded  in  converting  fibrine  into  albumen,  that  is,  in 
giving  it  the  solubility,  and  coagulability  by  heat,  which 
characterize  the  white  of  egg.* 


*  This  remarkable  experiment  was  first  performed  by  M.  Prosper 
Denis;  but  as  it  confirms,  in  an  unexpected  and  very  interesting 
manner,  the  conclusion  drawn  by  Professor  Liebig  from  the  researches 
of  Mulder,  and  from  those  jnade  at  Giessen  :  namely,  the  identity  of 
the  organic  part  of  vegetable  fibrine,  albumen,  and  caseine  with  that 
of  animal  fibrine,  albumen,  and  caseine;  and  as  M.  Dumas  has 
made  a  claim  to  this  discovery,  as  being  previously  well  known  to 
the  French  chemists,  it  appears  advisable  to  mention  a  few  circum- 
stances connected  with  the  history  of  these  researches. 

The  opinions  of  Liebig  on  this  subject  were  not  only  detailed  in 
his  lectures  in  the  winter  session  of  1840-41,  but  communicated  to 
Mailer,  Wagner,  and  Tiedemann,  and  also  among  others  to  M.  Ma- 
rignac  of  Geneva,  a  friend  of  M.  Dumas,  who  shortly  after  returned 
from  Giessen  to  Paris,  viz.,  in  February,  1841. 

In  the  mean  time,  M.  Denis,  having  made  his  curious  researches, 
found,  that  they  were  not  received  as  they  ought  to  have  been  by 
the  Parisian  chemists.  On  the  contrary,  he  was  laughed  at  for  his 
facts!  He  then  applied  to  Liebig,  who,  at  once,  caused  his  experi- 
ments to  be  repeated,  and  confirmed  his  conclusions.  To  those  who 
know  the  care  with  which  every  new  observation  is  protected  in 
Paris,  there  can  be  no  stronger  proof  that  no  other  French  chemist 
had  any  idea  of  the  truth  as  it  now  appears,  otherwise  it  would  have 
been  announced  and  the  date  taken. 

In  a  work  published  by  Dumas  and  Boussingault,  on  the  composi- 
tion of  the  air,  in  the  spring  of  1841,  the  ideas  in  regard  to  the  cause 
of  the  uniform  amount  of  oxygen  in  the  atmosphere,  are  those  pre- 
viously published  in  Liebig's  Organic  Chemistry  applied  to  Agricul- 
ture, published  in  1840. 

Further,  M.  Dumas,  in  a  lecture  published  by  him  in  the  end  of 
August,  1841,  consequently  long  after  the  views  of  Liebig  were 
known  in  Paris,  put  forth  views,  coinciding  with  those  of  Liebig  in 
regard  to  the  nutrition  of  animals,  and  the  composition  of  the  azotized 
vegetable  nutritious  compounds,  without  the  slightest  acknowledg- 
ment. 

The  researches  which  led  to  these  views  were  not  Parisian ;  for 
M.  Dumas  had  never  made  researches  on  vegetable  fibrine,  albumen, 
and  caseine  ;  while  the  researches  of  Boussingault  led  to  the  conclu- 
sion, that  these  substances  differed  in  composition  from  the  constitu- 
ents of  blood.  Now,  during  the  two  preceding  years,  Mulder  had 


CONSTITUENTS  OF  BLOOD.  41 

Fibrine  and  albumen,  besides  having  the  same  com- 
position, agree  also  in  this,  that  both  dissolve  in  con- 
published  his  admirable  papers,  while  Liebig  and  his  pupils  at  Giessen 
had  confirmed  and  extended  the  conclusions  of  Mulder,  and  Liebig 
himself  had  made  the  important  deductions  on  which  the  present 
work  is  founded,  and  had,  as  we  have  seen,  publicly  taught  them  in 
the  winter  of  1840-41. 

It  is  impossible  to  speak  too  highly  of  the  labors  of  Boussingault, 
and  accordingly,  Liebig,  in  the  present  volume,  has  availed  himself 
of  them,  with  the  fullest  acknowledgment.  It  is  only  to  be  regretted 
that  that  eminent  chemist,  in  the  work  already  mentioned,  published 
along  with  Dumas,  should  not  have  done  the  same  justice  to  his 
distinguished  German  contemporary. 

Finally,  on  a  careful  review  of  the  above  facts,  it  cannot  be  doubt- 
ed, that,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Agricultural  Chemistry,  our  author 
was  the  first  to  advance  those  views,  founded  as  well  on  the  experi- 
ments of  others  as  on  his  own,  which  have  for  the  first  time  given  a 
consistent  shape  to  Physiological  Chemistry.  These  views  being 
once  published,  nothing  is  easier  than  to  attach  a  meaning  to  older 
observations  and  remarks,  which  even  their  authors  had  allowed  to 
fall  into  oblivion  from  not  perceiving  their  true  bearing;  and  every 
great  advance  in  science  is  sure  to  draw  on  its  author  similar  charges 
of  plagiarism.  The  voice  of  posterity,  however,  never  fails  to  de- 
clare itself  in  favor  of  the  true  discoverer,  and  Liebig  will  not  lose 
the  honor  to  which  he  is  so  justly  entitled. 

The  conduct  of  the  French  chemists  in  regard  to  the  observations 
of  Denis,  is  a  clear  proof,  that,  previous  to  the  time  when  Liebig's 
views  reached  Paris,  they  had  not  formed  any  distinct  opinions  on 
these  important  points.  In  fact,  it  is  universally  known,  that  during 
that  period,  M.  Dumas,  who  now  steps  forward  to  claim  a  share  in 
discoveries,  the  value  of  which  he,  along  with  all  chemists,  now  fully 
appreciates,  was  occupied  with  researches,  interesting  indeed,  but 
of  far  less  value  and  importance,  on  his  favorite  theory  of  substi- 
tutions. Indeed,  up  to  the  publication  of  the  paper  on  air,  with 
M.  Boussingault,  in  1841,  M.  Dumas  had  not  appeared  at  all  in  the 
interesting  field  now  in  question ;  whereas,  previous  to  that  period, 
the  views  of  Liebig  were  matured. 

We  could  easily  prove,  by  the  internal  evidences  of  M.  Dumas's 
writings,  that  his  views  are  borrowed  from  Liebig  ;  as,  for  example, 
his  formula  for  fibrine  and  albumen,  the  origin  of  which  was  un- 
known to  him.  But  we  have  done  enough  to  show  how  groundless 
the  charge  of  plagiarism  against  Liebig  is. 

4* 


42  IDENTITY  OF  ANIMAL 

centrated  muriatic  acid,  'yielding  a  solution  of  an  intense 
purple  color.  This  solution,  whether  made  with  fibrine 
or  albumen,  has  the  very  same  reactions  with  all  sub- 
stances yet  tried. 

Both  albumen  and  fibrine,  in  the  process  of  nutrition, 
are  capable  of  being  converted  into  muscular  fibre,  and 
muscular  fibre  is  capable  of  being  reconverted  into  blood. 
These  facts  have  long  been  established  by  physiologists, 
and  chemistry  has  merely  proved,  that  these  metamor- 
phoses can  be  accomplished  under  the  influence  of  a 
certain  force,  without  the  aid  of  a  third  substance,  or 
of  its  elements,  and  without  the  addition  of  any  foreign 
element,  or  the  separation  of  any  element  previously 
present  in  these  substances. 

If  we  now  compare  the  composition  of  all  organized 
parts  with  that  of  fibrine  and  albumen,  the  following 
relations  present  themselves  :  — 

All  parts  of  the  animal  body  which  have  a  decided 
shape,  which  form  parts  of  organs,  contain  nitrogen. 
No  part  of  an  organ  which  possesses  motion  and  life 
is  destitute  of  nitrogen  ;  all  of  them  contain  likewise 
carbon  and  the  elements  of  water  ;  the  latter,  however, 
in  no  case  in  the  proportion  to  form  water. 

The  chief  ingredients  of  the  blood  contain  nearly 
17  per  cent,  of  nitrogen,  and  no  part  of  an  organ  con- 
tains less  than  17  per  cent,  of  nitrogen. (i)* 

The  most  convincing  experiments  and  observations 
have  proved,  that  the  animal  body  is  absolutely  incapa- 

*  See  Note  XXVII. 


FIBRINE  AND  ALBUMEN.  43 

ble  of  producing  an  elementary  body,  such  as  carbon  or 
nitrogen,  out  of  substances  which  do  not  contain  it  ; 
and  it  obviously  follows,  that  all  kinds  of  food  fit  for 
the  production  either  of  blood,  or  of  cellular  tissue, 
membranes,  skin,  hair,  muscular  fibre,  &c.,  must  con- 
tain a  certain  amount  of  nitrogen,  because  that  element 
is  essential  to  the  composition  of  the  above-named 
organs  ;  because  the  organs  cannot  create  it  from  the 
other  elements  presented  to  them  ;  and,  finally,  because 
no  nitrogen  is  absorbed  from  the  atmosphere  in  the  vital 
process. 

The  substance  of  the  brain  and  nerves  contains  a 
large  quantity  of  albumen,  and,  in  addition  to  this,  two 
peculiar  fatty  acids,  distinguished  from  other  fats  by 
containing  phosphorus  (phosphoric  acid?).  One  of 
these  contains  nitrogen  (Fremy) . 

Finally,  water  and  common  fat  are  those  ingredients 
of  the  body  which  are  destitute  of  nitrogen.  Both  are 
amorphous  or  unorganized,  and  only  so  far  take  part  in 
the  vital  process  as  that  their  presence  is  required  for 
the  due  performance  of  the  vital  functions.  The  inor- 
ganic constituents  of  the  body  are,  iron,  lime,  magnesia, 
common  salt,  and  the  alkalies. 

IX.  The  nutritive  process  in  the  carnivora  is  seen  in 
its  simplest  form.  This  class  of  animals  lives  on  the 
blood  and  flesh  of  the  graminivora  ;  but  this  blood  and 
flesh  is,  in  all  its  properties,  identical  with  their  own. 
Neither  chemical  nor  physiological  differences  can  be 
discovered. 


44  NUTRITION  OF  GRAMINIVORA. 

The  nutriment  of  carnivorous  animals  is  derived 
originally  from  blood  ;  in  their  stomach  it  becomes  dis- 
solved, and  capable  of  reaching  all  other  parts  of  the 
body  ;  in  its  passage  it  is  again  converted  into  blood, 
and  from  this  blood  are  reproduced  all  those  parts  of 
their  organization  which  have  undergone  change  or 
metamorphosis. 

With  the  exception  of  hoofs,  hair,  feathers,  and  the 
earth  of  bones,  every  part  of  the  food  of  carnivorous 
animals  is  capable  of  assimilation. 

In  a  chemical  sense,  therefore,  it  may  be  said  that  a 
carnivorous  animal,  in  supporting  the  vital  process,  con- 
sumes itself.  That  which  serves  for  its  nutrition  is 
identical  with  those  parts  of  its  organization  which  are 
to  be  renewed. 

The  process  of  nutrition  in  graminivorous  animals 
appears  at  first  sight  altogether  different.  Their  diges- 
tive organs  are  less  simple,  and  their  food  consists  of 
vegetables,  the  great  mass  of  which  contains  but  little 
nitrogen. 

From  what  substances,  it  may  be  asked,  is  the  blood 
formed,  by  means  of  which  their  organs  are  developed  ? 
This  question  may  be  answered  with  certainty. 

Chemical  researches  have  shown,  that  all  such  parts 
of  vegetables  as  can  afford  nutriment  to  animals  contain 
certain  constituents  which  are  rich  in  nitrogen  ;  and  the 
most  ordinary  experience  proves,  that  animals  require 
for  their  support  and  nutrition  less  of  these  parts  of 
plants  in  proportion  as  they  abound  in  the  nitrogenized 


VEGETABLE  FIBRINE.  45 

constituents.     Animals  cannot  be  fed  on  matters  desti- 
tute of  these  nitrogenized  constituents. 

These  important  products  of  vegetation  are  especially 
abundant  in  the  seeds  of  the  different  kinds  of  grain, 
and  of  pease,  beans,  and  lentils  ;  in  the  roots  and  the 
juices  of  what  are  commonly  called  vegetables.  They 
exist,  however,  in  all  plants,  without  exception,  and  in 
every  part  of  plants  in  larger  or  smaller  quantity. 

These  nitrogenized  forms  of  nutriment  in  the  vegeta- 
ble kingdom  may  be  reduced  to  three  substances,  which 
are  easily  distinguished  by  their  external  characters. 
Two  of  them  are  soluble  in  water,  the  third  is  insoluble. 

When  the  newly-expressed  juices  of  vegetables  are 
allowed  to  stand,  a  separation  takes  place  in  a  few  min- 
utes. A  gelatinous  precipitate,  commonly  of  a  green 
tinge,  is  deposited,  and  this,  when'  acted  on  by  liquids 
which  remove  the  coloring  matter,  leaves  a  grayish 
white  substance,  well  known  to  druggists  as  the  deposit 
from  vegetable  juices.  This  is  one  of  the  nitrogenized 
compounds  which  serves  for  the  nutrition  of  animals, 
and  has  been  named  vegetable  fibrine.  The  juice  of 
grapes  is  especially  rich  in  this  constituent,  but  it  is 
most  abundant  in  the  seeds  of  wheat,  and  of  the  cerealia 
generally.  It  may  be  obtained  from  wheat  flour  by  a 
mechanical  operation,  and  in  a  state  of  tolerable  purity  ; 
it  is  then  called  gluten,  but  the  glutinous  property  be- 
longs, not  to  vegetable  fibrine,  but  to  a  foreign  sub- 
stance, present  in  small  quantity,  which  is  not  found  in 
the  other  cerealia. 

The  method  by  which  it  is  obtained  sufficiently  proves 


46  ALBUMEN,  AND  CASEINE. 

that  it  is  insoluble  in  water  ;  although  we  cannot  doubt 
that  it  was  originally  dissolved  in  the  vegetable  juice, 
from  which  it  afterwards  separated,  exactly  as  fibrine 
does  from  blood. 

The  second  nitrogenized  compound  remains  dissolved 
in  the  juice  after  the  separation  of  the  fibrine.  It  does 
not  separate  from  the  juice  at  the  ordinary  temperature, 
but  is  instantly  coagulated  when  the  liquid  containing  it 
is  heated  to  the  boiling  point. 

When  the  clarified  juice  of  nutritious  vegetables, 
such  as  cauliflower,  asparagus,  mangel-wurtzel,  or  tur- 
nips, is  made  to  boil,  a  coagulum  is  formed,  which  it  is 
absolutely  impossible  to  distinguish  from  the  substance 
which  separates  as  a  coagulum,  when  the  serum  of  blood 
or  the  white  of  an  egg,  diluted  with  water,  are  heated 
to  the  boiling  point.  This  is  vegetable  albumen.  It  is 
found  in  the  greatest  abundance  in  certain  seeds,  in  nuts, 
almonds,  and  others,  in  which  the  starch  of  the  gra- 
mineae  is  replaced  by  oil. 

The  third  nitrogenized  constituent  of  the  vegetable 
food  of  animals  is  vegetable  caseine.  It  is  chiefly  found 
in  the  seeds  of  pease,  beans,  lentils,  and  similar  legu- 
minous seeds.  Like  vegetable  albumen,  it  is  soluble  in 
water,  but  differs  from  it  in  this,  that  its  solution  is  not 
coagulated  by  heat.  When  the  solution  is  heated  or 
evaporated,  a  skin  forms  on  its  surface,  and  the  addition 
of  an  acid  causes  a  coagulum,  just  as  in  animal  milk. 

These  three  nitrogenized  compounds,  vegetable  fi- 
brine, albumen,  and  caseine,  are  the  true  nitrogenized 
constituents  of  the  food  of  graminivorous  animals  ;  all 


NUTRITION.  47 

other  nitrogenized  compounds,  occurring  in  plants,  are 
either  rejected  by  animals,  as  in  the  case  of  the  charac- 
teristic principles  of  poisonous  and  medicinal  plants,  or 
else  they  occur  in  the  food  in  such  very  small  propor- 
tion, that  they  cannot  possibly  contribute  to  the  increase 
of  mass  in  the  animal  body. 

The  chemical  analysis  of  these  three  substances  has 
led  to  the  very  interesting  result  that  they  contain  the 
same  organic  elements,  united  in  the  same  proportion  by 
weight ;  and,  what  is  still  more  remarkable,  that  they 
are  identical  in  composition  with  the  chief  constituents 
of  blood,  animal  fibrine,  and  albumen.  They  all  three 
dissolve  in  concentrated  muriatic  acid  with  the  same 
deep  purple  color,  and  even  in  their  physical  characters, 
animal  fibrine  and  albumen  are  in  no  respect  different 
from  vegetable  fibrine  and  albumen.  It  is  especially  to 
be  noticed,  that,  by  the  phrase,  identity  of  composition, 
we  do  not  here  imply  mere  similarity,  but  that  even  in 
regard  to  the  presence  and  relative  amount  of  sulphur, 
phosphorus,  and  phosphate  of  lime,  no  difference  can 
be  observed,  (s) 

How  beautifully  and  admirably  simple,  with  the  aid 
of  these  discoveries,  appears  the  process  of  nutrition  in 
animals,  the  formation  of  their  organs,  in  which  vitality 
chiefly  resides  !  Those  vegetable  principles,  which  in 
animals  are  used  to  form  blood,  contain  the  chief  con- 
stituents of  blood,  fibrine,  and  albumen,  ready  formed, 
as  far  as  regards  their  composition.  All  plants,  besides, 
contain  a  certain  quantity  of  iron,  which  reappears  in 
the  coloring  matter  of  the  blood.  Vegetable  fibrine  and 


48  NUTRITION. 

animal  fibrine,  vegetable  albumen  and  animal  albumen, 
hardly  differ,  even  in  form  ;  if  these  principles  be  want- 
ing in  the  food,  the  nutrition  of  the  animal  is  arrested  ; 
and  when  they  are  present,  the  graminivorous  animal 
obtains  in  its  food  the  very  same  principles  on  the  pres- 
ence of  which  the  nutrition  of  the  carnivora  entirely 
depends. 

Vegetables  produce  in  their  organism  the  blood  of  all 
animals,  for  the  carnivora,  in  consuming  the  blood  and 
flesh  of  the  graminivora,  consume,  strictly  speaking, 
only  the  vegetable  principles  which  have  served  for  the 
nutrition  of  the  latter.  Vegetable  fibrine  and  albumen 
take  the  same  form  in  the  stomach  of  the  graminivorous 
animal  as  animal  fibrine  and  albumen  do  in  that  of  the 
carnivorous  animal. 

From  what  has  been  said  it  follows,  that  the  devel- 
opment of  the  animal  organism  and  its  growth  are  de- 
pendent on  the  reception  of  certain  principles  identical 
with  the  chief  constituents  of  blood. 

In  this  sense  we  may  say,  that  the  animal  organism 
gives  to  blood  only  its  form  ;  that  it  is  incapable  of 
creating  blood  out  of  other  substances  which  do  not  al- 
ready contain  the  chief  constituents  of  that  fluid.  We 
cannot,  indeed,  maintain,  that  the  animal  organism  has 
no  power  to  form  other  compounds,  for  we  know  that  it 
is  capable  of  producing  an  extensive  series  of  com- 
pounds, differing  in  composition  from  the  chief  constitu- 
ents of  blood  ;  but  these  last,  which  form  the  starting 
point  of  the  series,  it  cannot  produce. 

The  animal  organism  is  a  higher  kind  of  vegetable, 


USES  OF  THE  SUGAR.  49 

the  development  of  which  begins  with  those  substances, 
with  the  production  of  which  the  life  of  an  ordinary 
vegetable  ends.  As  soon  as  the  latter  has  borne  seed, 
it  dies,  or  a  period  of  its  life  comes  to  a  termination. 

In  that  endless  series  of  compounds,  which  begins 
with  carbonic  acid,  ammonia,  and  water,  the  sources  of 
the  nutrition  of  vegetables,  and  includes  the  most  com- 
plex constituents  of  the  animal  brain,  there  is  no  blank, 
no  interruption.  The  first  substance  capable  of  afford- 
ing nutriment  to  animals  is  the  last  product  of  the  crea- 
tive energy  of  vegetables. 

The  substance  of  cellular  tissue  and  of  membranes, 
of  the  brain  and  nerves,  these  the  vegetable  cannot 
produce. 

The  seemingly  miraculous  in  the  productive  agency 
of  vegetables  disappears  in  a  great  degree,  when  we 
reflect  that  the  production  of  the  constituents  of  blood 
cannot  appear  more  surprising  than  the  occurrence  of 
the  fat  of  beef  and  mutton  in  cocoa  beans,  of  human 
fat  in  olive  oil,  of  the  principal  ingredient  of  butter 
in  palm  oil,  and  of  horse  fat  and  train  oil  in  certain  oily 
seeds. 

X.  While  the  preceding  considerations  leave  little  or 
no  doubt  as  to  the  way  in  which  the  increase  of  mass  in 
an  animal,  that  is,  its  growth,  is  carried  on,  there  is  yet 
to  be  resolved  a  most  important  question,  namely,  that 
of  the  function  performed  in  the  animal  system  by  sub- 
stances containing  no  nitrogen,  such  as  sugar,  starch, 
gum,  pectine,  &c. 

5 


50  USES  OF  THE  STARCH.    CASEINE. 

The  most  extensive  class  of  animals,  the  graminivora, 
cannot  live  without  these  substances  ;  their  food  must 
contain  a  certain  amount  of  one  or  more  of  them,  and 
if  these  compounds  are  not  supplied,  death  quickly 
ensues. 

This  important  inquiry  extends  also  to  the  consti- 
tuents of  the  food  of  carnivorous  animals  in  the  earliest 
periods  of  life  ;  for  this  food  also  contains  substances, 
which  are  not  necessary  for  their  support  in  the  adult 
state. 

The  nutrition  of  the  young  of  carnivora  is  obviously 
accomplished  by  means  similar  to  those  by  which  the 
graminivora  are  nourished  ;  their  development  is  de- 
pendent on  the  supply  of  a  fluid,  which  the  body  of  the 
mother  secretes  in  the  shape  of  milk. 

Milk  contains  only  one  nitrogenized  constituent,  known 
under  the  name  of  caseine ;  besides  this,  its  chief  ingre- 
dients are  butter  (fat),  and  sugar  of  milk. 

The  blood  of  the  young  animal,  its  muscular  fibre, 
cellular  tissue,  nervous  matter,  and  bones,  must  have 
derived  their  origin  from  the  nitrogenized  constituent  of 
milk,  the  caseine ;  for  butter  and  sugar  of  milk  contain 
no  nitrogen. 

Now,  the  analysis  of  caseine  has  led  to  the  result, 
which,  after  the  details  given  in  the  last  section,  can 
hardly  excite  surprise,  that  this  substance  also  is  identi- 
cal in  composition  with  the  chief  constituents  of  blood, 
fibrine  and  albumen.  Nay,  more,  a  comparison  of  its 
properties  with  those  of  vegetable  caseine  has  shown 
that  these  two  substances  are  identical  in  all  their  prop- 


USES  OF  THE  BUTTER,  &c.  51 

erties  ;  insomuch,  that  certain  plants,  such  as  peas, 
beans,  and  lentils,  are  capable  of  producing  the  same 
substance  which  is  formed  from  the  blood  of  the  mother, 
and  employed  in  yielding  the  blood  of  the  young  ani- 
mal. (9) 

The  young  animal,  therefore,  receives,  in  the  form 
of  caseine,  which  is  distinguished  from  fibrine  and  al- 
bumen by  its  great  solubility,  and  by  not  coagulating 
when  heated,  the  chief  constituent  of  the  mother's 
blood.  To  convert  caseine  into  blood  no  foreign  sub- 
stance is  required,  and  in  the  conversion  of  the  mother's 
blood  into  caseine,  no  elements  of  the  constituents  of 
the  blood  have  been  separated.  When  chemically  ex- 
amined, caseine  is  found  to  contain  a  much  larger  pro- 
portion of  the  earth  of  bones  than  blood  does,  and  that 
in  a  very  soluble  form,  capable  of  reaching  every  part 
of  the  body.  Thus,  even  in  the  earliest  period  of  its 
life,  the  development  of  the  organs,  in  which  vitality 
resides,  is,  in  the  carnivorous  animal,  dependent  on  the 
supply  of  a  substance,  identical  in  organic  composition 
with  the  chief  constituents  of  its  blood. 

What,  then,  is  the  use  of  the  butter  and  the  sugar  of 
milk  ?  How  does  it  happen  that  these  substances  are 
indispensable  to  life  ? 

Butter  and  sugar  of  milk  contain  no  fixed  bases,  no 
soda  or  potash.  Sugar  of  milk  has  a  composition 
closely  allied  to  that  of  the  other  kinds  of  sugar,  of 
starch,  and  of  gum ;  all  of  them  contain  carbon  and  the 
elements  of  water,  the  latter  precisely  in  the  proportion 
to  form  water. 


52  ANIMAL  AND  VEGETABLE 

There  is  added,  therefore,  by  means  of  these  com- 
pounds, to  the  nitrogenized  constituents  of  food,  a  cer- 
tain amount  of  carbon,  or,  as  in  the  case  of  butter,  of 
carbon  and  hydrogen  ;  that  is,  an  excess  of  elements, 
which  cannot  possibly  be  employed  in  the  production 
of  blood,  because  the  nitrogenized  substances  contained 
in  the  food  already  contain  exactly  the  amount  of  car- 
bon which  is  required  for  the  production  of  fibrine  and 
albumen. 

The  following  considerations  will  show  that  hardly  a 
doubt  can  be  entertained,  that  this  excess  of  carbon 
alone,  or  of  carbon  and  hydrogen,  is  expended  in  the 
production  of  animal  heat,  and  serves  to  protect  the 
organism  from  the  action  of  the  atmospheric  oxygen. 

XI.  In  order  to  obtain  a  clearer  insight  into  the  na- 
ture of  the  nutritive  process  in  both  the  great  classes  of 
animals,  let  us  first  consider  the  changes  which  the  food 
of  the  carnivora  undergoes  in  their  organism. 

If  we  give  to  an  adult  serpent,  or  boa  constrictor,  a 
goat,  a  rabbit,  or  a  bird,  we  find  that  the  hair,  hoofs, 
horns,  feathers,  or  bones  of  these  animals,  are  expelled 
from  the  body  apparently  unchanged.  They  have  re- 
tained their  natural  form  and  aspect,  but  have  become 
brittle,  because  of  all  their  component  parts  they  have 
lost  only  that  one  which  was  capable  of  solution,  name- 
ly, the  gelatine.  Fsces,  properly  so  called,  do  not 
occur  in  serpents  any  more  than  in  carnivorous  birds. 

We  find,  moreover,  that,  when  the  serpent  has  re- 
gained its  original  weight,  every  other  part  of  its  prey, 


CASEINE  IDENTICAL.  53 

the  flesh,  the  blood,  the  brain,   and  nerves,  in   short, 
every  thing,  has  disappeared. 

The  only  excrement,  strictly  speaking,  is  a  substance 
expelled  by  the  urinary  passage.  When  dry,  it  is  pure 
white,  like  chalk  ;  it  contains  much  nitrogen,  and  a 
small  quantity  of  carbonate  and  phosphate  of  lime 
mixed  with  the  mass. 

This  excrement  is  urate  of  ammonia,  a  chemical 
compound,  in  which  the  nitrogen  bears*  to  the  carbon 
the  same  proportion  as  in  bicarbonate  of  ammonia. 
For  every  equivalent  of  nitrogen  it  contains  two  equiv- 
alents of  carbon. 

But  muscular  fibre,  blood,  membranes,  and  skin,  con- 
tain four  times  as  much  carbon  for  the  same  amount  of 
nitrogen,  or  eight  equivalents  to  one  ;  and  if  we  add  to 
this  the  carbon  of  the  fat  and  nervous  substance,  it  is 
obvious  that  the  serpent  has  consumed,  for  every  equiv- 
alent of  nitrogen,  much  more  than  eight  equivalents  of 
carbon. 

If  now  we  assume,  that  the  urate  of  ammonia  contains 
all  the  nitrogen  of  the  animal  consumed,  then  at  least 
six  equivalents  of  carbon,  which  were  in  combination 
with  this  nitrogen,  must  have  been  given  out  in  a  differ- 
ent form  from  the  two  equivalents  which  are  found  in 
the  urate  of  ammonia. 

Now  we  know,  with  perfect  certainty,  that  this  car- 
bon has  been  given  out  through  the  skin  and  lungs, 
which  could  only  take  place  in  the  form  of  an  oxidized 
product. 

The  excrements  of  a  buzzard  which  had  been  fed 
5* 


54  NUTRITION  OF  CARNIVORA. 

with  beef,  when  taken  out  of  the  rectum,  consisted, 
according  to  L.  Gmelin  and  Tiedemann,  of  urate  of 
ammonia.  In  like  manner,  the  faeces  in  lions  and  tigers 
are  scanty  and  dry,  consisting  chiefly  of  bone  earth, 
with  mere  traces  of  compounds  containing  carbon  ;  but 
their  urine  contains,  not  urate  of  ammonia,  but  urea,  a 
compound  in  which  carbon  and  nitrogen  are  to  each 
other  in  the  same  ratio  as  in  neutral  carbonate  of  am- 
monia. 

Assuming  that  their  food  (flesh,  &c.)  contains  car- 
bon and  nitrogen  in  the  ratio  of  eight  equivalents  to  one, 
we  find  these  elements  in  their  urine  in  the  ratio  of 
one  equivalent  to  one  ;  a  smaller  proportion  of  carbon, 
therefore,  than  in  serpents,  in  which  respiration  is  so 
much  less  active. 

The  whole  of  the  carbon  and  hydrogen  which  the 
food  of  these  animals  contained,  beyond  the  amount 
which  we  find  in  their  excrements,  has  disappeared,  in 
the  process  of  respiration,  as  carbonic  acid  and  water. 

Had  the  animal  food  been  burned  in  a  furnace,  the 
change  produced  in  it  would  only  have  differed  in  the 
form  of  combination  assumed  by  the  nitrogen  from  that 
which  it  underwent  in  the  body  of  the  animal.  The 
nitrogen  would  have  appeared,  with  part  of  the  carbon 
and  hydrogen,  as  carbonate  of  ammonia,  while  the  rest 
of  the  carbon  and  hydrogen  would  have  formed  car- 
bonic acid  and  water.  The  incombustible  parts  would 
have  taken  the  form  of  ashes,  and  any  part  of  the  car- 
bon unconsumed  from  a  deficiency  of  oxygen,  would 
have  appeared  as  soot,  or  lampblack.  Now  the  solid 


FOOD  OF  CARNIVORA.  55 

excrements  are  nothing  else  than  the  incombustible,  or 
imperfectly  burned,  parts  of  the  food. 

In  the  preceding  pages  it  has  been  assumed,  that  the 
elements  of  the  food  are  converted  by  the  oxygen  ab- 
sorbed in  the  lungs  into  oxidized  products  ;  the  carbon 
into  carbonic  acid,  the  hydrogen  into  water,  and  the 
nitrogen  into  a  compound  containing  the  same  elements 
as  carbonate  of  ammonia. 

This  is  only  true  in  appearance  ;  the  body,  no  doubt, 
after  a  certain  time,  acquires  its  original  weight.  The 
amount  of  carbon,  and  of  the  other  elements,  is  not 
found  to  be  increased,  —  exactly  as  much  carbon,  hy- 
drogen, and  nitrogen  has  been  given  out  as  was  supplied 
in  the  food  ;  but  nothing  is  more  certain  than  that  the 
carbon,  hydrogen,  and  nitrogen  given  out,  although 
equal  in  amount  to  what  is  supplied  in  that  form,  do  not 
directly  proceed  from  the  food. 

It  would  be  utterly  irrational  to  suppose  that  the 
necessity  of  taking  food,  or  the  satisfying  the  appetite, 
had  no  other  object  than  the  production  of  urea,  uric 
acid,  carbonic  acid,  and  other  excrementitious  matters, 
—  of  substances  which  the  system  expels,  and  conse- 
quently applies  to  no  useful  purpose  in  the  economy. 

In  the  adult  animal,  the  food  serves  to  restore  the 
waste  of  matter  ;  certain  parts  of  its  organs  have  lost 
the  state  of  vitality,  have  been  expelled  from  the  sub- 
stance of  the  organs,  and  have  been  metamorphosed 
into  new  combinations,  which  are  amorphous  and  unor- 
ganized. 

The  food  of  the  carnivora  is  at  once  converted  into 


5(5  CARBON  IS  ACCUMULATED 

blood  ;  out  of  the  newly-formed  blood  those  parts  of 
organs  which  have  undergone  metamorphoses  are  repro- 
duced. The  carbon  and  nitrogen  of  the  food  thus 
become  constituent  parts  of  organs. 

Exactly  as  much  carbon  and  nitrogen  is  supplied  to 
the  organs  by  the  blood,  that  is,  ultimately,  by  the  food, 
as  they  have  lost  by  the  transformations  attending  the 
exercise  of  their  functions. 

What,  then,  it  may  be  asked,  becomes  of  the  new 
compounds  produced  by  the  transformations  of  the 
organs,  of  the  muscles,  of  the  membranes  and  cellular 
tissue,  of  the  nerves,  and  brain  ? 

These  new  compounds  cannot,  owing  to  their  solu- 
bility, remain  in  the  situation  where  they  are  formed, 
for  a  well-known  force,  namely,  the  circulation  of  the 
blood,  opposes  itself  to  this. 

By  the  expansion  of  the  heart,  an  organ  in  which 
two  systems  of  tubes  meet,  which  are  ramified  in  a 
most  minute  network  of  vessels  through  all  parts  of  the 
body,  there  is  produced  a  vacuum,  the  immediate  effect 
of  which  is,  that  all  fluids  which  can  penetrate  into 
these  vessels  are  urged  with  great  force  towards  one 
side  of  the  heart  by  the  external  pressure  of  the  atmo- 
sphere. This  motion  is  powerfully  assisted  by  the  con- 
traction of  the  heart,  alternating  with  its  expansion,  and 
caused  by  a  force  independent  of  the  atmospheric 
pressure. 

In  a  word,  the  heart  is  a  forcing  pump,  which  sends 
arterial  blood  into  all  parts  of  the  body  ;  and  also  a 
suction  pump,  by  means  of  which  all  fluids  of  whatever 


IN  THE  BILE.  57 

kind,  as  soon  as  they  enter  the  absorbent  vessels  which 
communicate  with  the  veins,  are  drawn  towards  the 
heart.  This  suction,  arising  from  the  vacuum  caused 
by  the  expansion  of  the  heart,  is  a  purely  mechanical 
act,  which  extends,  as  above  stated,  to  fluids  of  every 
kind,  to  saline  solutions,  poisons,  &c.  It  is  obvious, 
therefore,  that  by  the  forcible  entrance  of  arterial  blood 
into  the  capillary  vessels,  the  fluids  contained  in  these, 
in  other  words,  the  soluble  compounds  formed  by  the 
transformations  of  organized  parts,  must  be  compelled 
to  move  towards  the  heart. 

These  compounds  cannot  be  employed  for  the  re- 
production of  those  tissues  from  which  they  are  derived. 
They  pass  through  the  absorbent  and  lymphatic  vessels 
into  the  veins,  where  their  accumulation  would  speedily 
put  a  stop  to  the  nutritive  process,  were  it  not  that  this 
accumulation  is  prevented  by  two  contrivances  adapted 
expressly  to  this  purpose,  and  which  may  be  compared 
to  filtering  machines. 

The  venous  blood,  before  reaching  the  heart,  is  made 
to  pass  through  the  liver  ;  the  arterial  blood,  on  the  other 
hand,  passes  through  the  kidneys  ;  and  these  organs  sep- 
arate from  both  all  substances  incapable  of  contributing 
to  nutrition. 

Those  new  compounds  which  contain  the  nitrogen  of 
the  transformed  organs  are  collected  in  the  urinary  blad- 
der, and  being  utterly  incapable  of  any  further  applica- 
tion in  the  system,  are  expelled  from  the  body. 

Those,  again,  which  contain  the  carbon  of  the  trans- 
formed tissues,  are  collected  in  the  gall-bladder  in  the 
form  of  a  compound  of  soda,  the  bile,  which  is  miscible 


58  THE  CARBON  OF  THE  BILE 

with  water  in  every  proportion,  and  which,  passing  into 
the  duodenum,  mixes  with  the  chyme.  All  those  parts 
of  the  bile  which,  during  the  digestive  process,  do  not 
lose  their  solubility,  return  during  that  process  into  the 
circulation  in  a  state  of  extreme  division.  The  soda 
of  the  bile,  and  those  highly  carbonized  portions  which 
are  not  precipitated  by  a  weak  acid  (together  making 
T9090ths  of  the  solid  contents  of  the  bile),  retain  the  ca- 
pacity of  resorption  by  the  absorbents  of  the  small  and 
large  intestines  ;  nay,  this  capacity  has  been  directly 
proved  by  the  administration  of  enemata  containing  bile, 
the  whole  of  the  bile  disappearing  with  the  injected 
fluid  in  the  rectum. 

Thus  we  know  with  certainty,  that  the  nitrogenized 
compounds  produced  by  the  metamorphosis  of  organ- 
ized tissues,  after  being  separated  from  the  arterial 
blood  by  means  of  the  kidneys,  are  expelled  from  the 
body  as  utterly  incapable  of  further  alteration  ;  while 
the  compounds  rich  in  carbon,  derived  from  the  same 
source,  return  into  the  system  of  carnivorous  animals. 

The  food  of  the  carnivora  is  identical  with  the  chief 
constituents  of  their  bodies,  and  hence  the  metamor- 
phoses which  their  organs  undergo  must  be  the  same  as 
those  which,  under  the  influence  of  the  vital  force,  take 
place  in  the  matters  which  constitute  their  food. 

The  flesh  and  blood  consumed  as  food  yield  their 
carbon  for  the  support  of  the  respiratory  process,  while 
its  nitrogen  appears  as  uric  acid,  ammonia,  or  urea. 
But  previously  to  these  final  changes,  the  dead  flesh 
and  blood  become  living  flesh  and  blood,  and  it  is, 


UNDERGOES  COMBUSTION.  59 

strictly  speaking,  the  carbon  of  the  compounds  formed 
in  the  metamorphoses  of  living  tissues  that  serves  for 
the  production  of  animal  heat. 

The  food  of  the  carnivora  is  converted  into  blood, 
which  is  destined  for  the  reproduction  of  organized  tis- 
sues ;  and  by  means  of  the  circulation  a  current  of 
oxygen  is  conveyed  to  every  part  of  the  body.  The 
globules  of  the  blood,  which  in  themselves  can  be 
shown  to  take  no  share  in  the  nutritive  process,  serve  to 
transport  the  oxygen,  which  they  give  up  in  their  pas- 
sage through  the  capillary  vessels.  Here  the  current  of 
oxygen  meets  with  the  compounds  produced  by  the 
transformation  of  the  tissues,  and  combines  with  their 
carbon  to  form  carbonic  acid,  with  their  hydrogen  to 
form  water.  Every  portion  of  these  substances  which 
escapes  this  process  of  oxidation  is  sent  back  into  the 
circulation  in  the  form  of  the  bile,  which  by  degrees 
completely  disappears. 

In  the  carnivora  the  bile  contains  the  carbon  of  the 
metamorphosed  tissues  ;  this  carbon  disappears  in  the 
animal  body,  and  the  bile  likewise  disappears  in  the  vital 
process.  Its  carbon  and  hydrogen  are  given  out  through 
the  skin  and  lungs  as  carbonic  acid  and  water  ;  and 
hence  it  is  obvious,  that  the  elements  of  the  bile  serve 
for  respiration  and  for  the  production  of  animal  heat. 
Every  part  of  the  food  of  carnivorous  animals  is  capable 
of  forming  blood ;  their  excrements,  excluding  the 
urine,  contain  only  inorganic  substances,  such  as  phos- 
phate of  lime  ;  and  the  small  quantity  of  organic  matter 
which  is  found  mixed  with  these  is  derived  from  excre- 


60  USES  OF  THE  URINE 

lions,  the  use  of  which  is  to  promote  their  passage 
through  the  intestines,  such  as  mucus.  These  excre- 
ments contain  no  bile  and  no  soda ;  for  water  extracts 
from  them  no  trace  of  any  substance  resembling  bile, 
and  yet  bile  is  very  soluble  in  water,  and  mixes  with  it 
in  every  proportion. 

Physiologists  can  entertain  no  doubt  as  to  the  origin 
of  the  constituent  parts  of  the  urine  and  of  the  bile. 
When,  from  deprivation  of  food,  the  stomach  contracts 
itself  so  as  to  resemble  a  portion  of  intestine,  the  gall- 
bladder, for  want  of  the  motion  which  the  full  stomach 
gives  to  it,  cannot  pour  out  the  bile  it  contains  ;  hence 
in  animals  starved  to  death  we  find  the  gall-bladder  dis- 
tended and  full.  The  secretion  of  bile  and  of  urine 
goes  on  during  the  winter  sleep  of  hybernating  animals  ; 
and  we  know  that  the  urine  of  dogs,  fed  for  three  weeks 
exclusively  on  pure  sugar,  contains  as  much  of  the  most 
highly  nitrogenized  constituent,  urea,  as  in  the  normal 
condition.  (Marchaud.  Erdmann's  Journal  fur  prak- 
tische  Chemie,  XIV.  p.  495.) 

Differences  in  the  quantity  of  urea  secreted  in  these 
and  similar  experiments  are  explained  by  the  condition 
of  the  animal  in  regard  to  the  amount  of  the  natural 
motions  permitted.  Every  motion  increases  the  amount 
of  organized  tissue  which  undergoes  metamorphosis. 
Thus,  after  a  walk,  the  secretion  of  urine  in  man  is  in- 
variably increased. 

The  urine  of  the  mammalia,  of  birds,  and  of  am- 
phibia, contains  uric  acid  or  urea  ;  and  the  excrements 
of  the  mollusca,  and  of  insects,  as  of  cantharides  and 


AND  OF  THE  BILE.  61 

of  the  butterfly  of  the  silkworm,  contain  urate  of  am- 
monia. This  constant  occurrence  of  one  or  two  nitro- 
genized  compounds  in  the  excretions  of  animals,  while 
so  great  a  difference  exists  in  their  food,  clearly  proves 
that  these  compounds  proceed  from  one  and  the  same 
source. 

As  little  doubt  can  be  entertained  in  regard  to  the 
function  of  the  bile  in  the  vital  process.  When  we 
consider,  that  the  acetate  of  potash,  given  in  enema,  or 
simply  as  a  bath  for  the  feet,  renders  the  urine  strongly 
alkaline  (Rehberger  in  Tiedemann's  Zeitschrift  fur 
Physiologic,  II.  149),  and  that  the  change  which  the 
acetic  acid  here  undergoes  cannot  be  conceived  without 
the  addition  of  oxygen,  it  is  obvious,  that  the  soluble 
constituents  of  the  bile,  prone  to  change  in  a  high  de- 
gree as  -we  know  them  to  be,  and  which,  as  already 
stated,  cannot  be  employed  in  the  production  of  blood, 
must,  when  returned  through  the  intestines  into  the  cir- 
culation, in  like  manner  yield  to  the  influence  of  the 
oxygen  which  they  meet.  The  bile  is  a  compound  of 
soda,  the  elements  of  which,  with  the  exception  of  the 
soda,  disappear  in  the  body  of  a  carnivorous  animal. 

In  the  opinion  of  many  of  the  most  distinguished 
physiologists,  the  bile  is  intended  solely  to  be  excreted  ; 
and  nothing  is  more  certain,  than  that  a  substance  con- 
taining so  very  small  a  proportion  of  nitrogen  can  have 
no  share  in  the  process  of  nutrition  or  reproduction  of 
organized  tissue.  But  quantitative  physiology  must  at 
once  and  decidedly  reject  the  opinion,  that  the  bile  serves 
6 


62  AMOUNT  OF  BILE  SECRETED 

no  purpose  in  the  economy,  and  is  incapable  of  further 
change. 

No  part  of  any  organized  structure  contains  soda  ; 
only  in  the  serum  of  the  blood,  in  the  fat  of  the  brain, 
and  in  the  bile,  do  we  meet  with  that  alkali.  When  the 
compounds  of  soda  in  the  blood  are  converted  into  mus- 
cular fibre,  membrane,  or  cellular  tissue,  the  soda  they 
contain  must  enter  into  new  combinations.  The  blood 
which  is  transformed  into  organized  tissue  gives  up  its 
soda  to  the  compounds  formed  by  the  metamorphoses 
of  the  previously  existing  tissues.  In  the  bile  we  find 
one  of  these  compounds  of  soda. 

Were  the  bile  intended  merely  for  excretion,  we 
should  find  it,  more  or  less  altered,  and  also  the  soda  it 
contains,  in  the  solid  excrements.  But,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  common  salt,  and  of  sulphate  of  soda,  which 
occur  in  all  the  animal  fluids,  only  mere  traces  of  soda 
are  to  be  found  in  the  faeces.  The  soda  of  the  bile, 
therefore,  at  all  events,  must  have  returned  from  the 
intestinal  canal  into  the  organism,  and  the  same  must  be 
true  of  the  organic  matters  which  were  in  combination 
with  it. 

According  to  the  observations  of  physiologists,  a  man 
secretes  daily  from  17  to  24  oz.  of  bile  ;  a  large  dog, 
36  oz.  ;  a  horse,  37  Ibs.  (Burdach's  Physiologic,  V. 
p.  260.)  But  the  faeces  of  a  man  do  not  on  an  average 
weigh  more  than  5|  oz.  ;  and  those  of  a  horse  28|  Ibs., 
of  which  21  Ibs.  are  water,  and  7|  Ibs.  dry  faeces. 
(Boussingault.)  The  latter  yield  to  alcohol  only  ^th 
part  of  their  weight  of  soluble  matter. 


IN  MAN  AND  ANIMALS.  63 

If  we  assume  the  bile  to  contain  90  per  cent,  of 
water,  a  horse  secretes  daily  592  oz.  of  bile,  containing 
59-2  oz.  of  solid  matter  ;  while  7|  Ibs.  or  120  oz.  of 
dried  excrement  yield  only  6  oz.  of  matter  soluble  in 
alcohol,  which  might  possibly  be  bile.  But  this  matter 
is  not  bile  ;  when  the  alcohol  is  dissipated  by  evapora- 
tion, there  remains  a  soft,  unctuous  mass,  altogether  in- 
soluble in  water,  and  which,  when  incinerated,  leaves  no 
alkaline  ashes,  no  soda.  (10) 

During  the  digestive  process,  therefore,  the  soda  of 
the  bile,  and,  along  with  it>  all  the  soluble  parts  of  that 
fluid,  are  returned  into  the  circulation.  This  soda  re- 
appears in  the  newly  formed  blood,  and,  finally,  we  find 
it  in  the  urine  in  the  form  of  phosphate,  carbonate,  and 
hippurate  of  soda.  Berzelius  found  in  1,000  parts  of 
fresh  human  faeces  only  nine  parts  of  a  substance  similar 
to  bile  ;  5  ounces,  therefore,  would  contain  only  21 
grains  of  dried  bile,  equivalent  to  210  grains  of  fresh 
bile.  But  a  man  secretes  daily  from  9,640  to  11,520 
grains  of  fluid  bile,  that  is,  from  45  to  56  times  as  much 
as  can  be  detected  in  the  matters  discharged  by  the 
intestinal  canal. 

Whatever  opinion  we  may  entertain  of  the  accuracy 
of  the  physiological  experiments,  in  regard  to  the  quan- 
tity of  bile  secreted  by  the  different  classes  of  animals  ; 
thus  much  is  certain,  that  even  the  maximum  of  the 
supposed  secretion,  in  man  and  in  the  horse,  does  not 
contain  as  much  carbon  as  is  given  out  in  respiration. 
With  all  the  fat  which  is  mixed  with  it,  or  enters  into 
its  composition,  dried  bile  does  not  contain  more  than 


64  THE  CARBON  OF  THE  FOOD 

69  per  cent,  of  carbon.  Consequently,  if  a  horse 
secretes  37  Ibs.  of  bile,  this  quantity  will  contain  only 
40  ounces  of  carbon.  But  the  horse  expires  daily 
nearly  twice  as  much  in  the  form  of  carbonic  acid.  A 
precisely  similar  proportion  holds  good  in  man. 

Along  with  the  matter  destined  for  the  formation  or 
reproduction  of  organs,  the  circulation  conveys  oxygen 
to  all  parts  of  the  body.  Now,  into  whatever  combina- 
tion the  oxygen  may  enter  in  the  blood,  it  must  be  held 
as  certain,  that  such  of  the  constituents  of  blood  as  are 
employed  for  reproduction,  are  not  materially  altered  by 
it.  In  muscular  fibre  we  find  fibrine,  with  all  the  prop- 
erties it  had  in  venous  blood  ;  the  albumen  in  the  blood 
does  not  combine  with  oxygen.  The  oxygen  may  pos- 
sibly serve  to  convert  into  the  gaseous  state  some  un- 
known constituent  of  the  blood  ;  but  those  well-known 
constituents  which  are  employed  in  reproduction,  cannot 
be  destined  to  support  the  respiratory  process  ;  none  of 
their  properties  can  justify  such  an  opinion. 

Without  attempting  in  this  place  to  exhaust  the  whole 
question  of  the  share  taken  by  the  bile  in  the  vital  op- 
erations, it  follows,  as  has  been  observed,  from  the 
simple  comparison  of  those  parts  of  the  food  of  the 
carnivora  which  are  capable  of  assimilation,  with  the 
ultimate  products  into  which  it  is  converted,  that  all  the 
carbon  of  the  food,  except  that  portion  which  is  found 
in  the  urine,  is  given  out  as  carbonic  acid. 

But  this  carbon  was  ultimately  derived  from  the  sub- 
stance of  the  metamorphosed  tissues  ;  and  this  being 
admitted,  the  question  of  the  necessity  of  substances 


SUPPORTS  RESPIRATION.  65 

containing  much  carbon  and  no  nitrogen  in  the  food  of 
the  young  of  the  carnivora,  and  in  that  of  the  gramini- 
vora,  is  resolved  in  a  strikingly  simple  manner. 

XII.  It  cannot  be  disputed,  that  in  an  adult  carnivor- 
ous animal,  which  neither  gains  nor  loses  weight,  per- 
ceptibly, from  day  to  day,  its  nourishment,  the  waste  of 
organized  tissue,  and  its  consumption  of  oxygen,  stand 
to  each  other  in  a  well-defined  and  fixed  relation. 

The  carbon  of  the  carbonic  acid  given  off,  with  that 
of  the  urine  ;  the  nitrogen  of  the  urine,  and  the  hydro- 
gen given  off  as  ammonia  and  water ;  these  elements, 
taken  together,  must  be  exactly  equal  in  weight  to  the 
carbon,  nitrogen,  and  hydrogen  of  the  metamorphosed 
tissues,  and  since  these  last  are  exactly  replaced  by  the 
food,  to  the  carbon,  nitrogen,  and  hydrogen  of  the  food. 
Were  this  not  the  case,  the  weight  of  the  animal  could 
not  possibly  remain  unchanged. 

But,  in  the  young  of  the  carnivora,  the  weight  does 
not  remain  unchanged  ;  on  the  contrary,  it  increases 
from  day  to  day  by  an  appreciable  quantity. 

This  fact  presupposes,  that  the  assimilative  process 
in  the  young  animal  is  more  energetic,  more  intense, 
than  the  process  of  transformation  in  the  existing  tissues. 
If  both  processes  were  equally  active,  the  weight  of 
the.  body  could  not  increase  ;  and  were  the  waste  by 
transformation  greater,  the  weight  of  the  body  would 
decrease. 

Now,  the  circulation  in  the  young  animal  is  not 
weaker,  but,  on  the  contrary,  more  rapid  ;  the  respira- 
6* 


66  BUTTER,  SUGAR,  STARCH,  fee. 

tions  are  more  frequent  ;  and,  for  equal  bulks,  the  con- 
sumption of  oxygen  must  be  greater  rather  than  smaller 
in  the  young  than  in  the  adult  animal.  But,  since  the 
metamorphosis  of  organized  parts  goes  on  more  slowly, 
there  would  ensue  a  deficiency  of  those  substances,  the 
carbon  and  hydrogen  of  which  are  adapted  for  combina- 
tion with  oxygen  ;  because,  in  the  carnivora,  it  is  the 
new  compounds,  produced  by  the  metamorphosis  of 
organized  parts,  which  nature  has  destined  to  furnish 
the  necessary  resistance  to  the  action  of  the  oxygen, 
and  to  produce  animal  heat.  What  is  wanting  for  these 
purposes,  an  infinite  wisdom  has  supplied  to  the  young 
animal  in  its  natural  food. 

The  carbon  and  hydrogen  of  butter,  and  the  carbon 
of  the  sugar  of  milk,  no  part  of  either  of  which  can 
yield  blood,  fibrine,  or  albumen,  are  destined  for  the 
support  of  the  respiratory  process,  at  an  age  when  a 
greater  resistance  is  opposed  to  the  metamorphosis  of 
existing  organisms  ;  or,  in  other  words,  to  the  produc- 
tion of  compounds,  which  in  the  adult  state  are  produced 
in  quantity  amply  sufficient  for  the  purpose  of  respira- 
tion. 

The  young  animal  receives  the  constituents  of  its 
blood  in  the  caseine  of  the  milk.  A  metamorphosis  of 
existing  organs  goes  on,  for  bile  and  urine  are  secreted  ; 
the  matter  of  the  metamorphosed  parts  is  given  off  in 
the  form  of  urine,  of  carbonic  acid,  and  of  water  ;  but 
the  butter  and  sugar  of  milk  also  disappear  ;  they  can- 
not be  detected  in  the  faeces. 

The  butter  and  sugar  of  milk  are  given  out  in  the 


CONSUMED  IN  RESPIRATION.  67 

form  of  carbonic  acid  and  water,  and  their  conversion 
into  oxidized  products  furnishes  the  clearest  proof,  that 
far  more  oxygen  is  absorbed  than  is  required  to  convert 
the  carbon  and  hydrogen  of  the  metamorphosed  tissues 
into  carbonic  acid  and  water. 

The  change  and  metamorphosis  of  organized  tissues 
going  on  in  the  vital  process  in  the  young  animal,  con- 
sequently yield,  in  a  given  time,  much  less  carbon  and 
hydrogen  in  the  form  adapted  for  the  respiratory  process 
than  corresponds  to  the  oxygen  taken  up  in  the  lungs. 
The  substance  of  its  organized  parts  would  undergo  a 
more  rapid  consumption,  and  would  necessarily  yield  to 
the  action  of  the  oxygen,  were  not  the  deficiency  of 
carbon  and  hydrogen  supplied  from  another  source. 

The  continued  increase  of  mass,  or  growth,  and  the 
free  and  unimpeded  development  of  the  organs  in  the 
young  animal,  are  dependent  on  the  presence  of  foreign 
substances,  which,  in  the  nutritive  process,  have  no 
other  function  than  to  protect  the  newly-formed  organs 
from  the  action  of  the  oxygen.  It  is  the  elements  of 
these  substances  which  unite  with  the  oxygen  ;  the 
organs  themselves  could  not  do  so  without  being  con- 
sumed ;  that  is,  growth,  or  increase  of  mass  in  the 
body,  the  consumption  of  oxygen  remaining  the  same, 
would  be  utterly  impossible. 

The  preceding  considerations  leave  no  doubt  as  to 
the  purpose  for  which  Nature  has  added  to  the  food  of 
the  young  of  carnivorous  mammalia  substances  devoid 
of  nitrogen,  which  their  organism  cannot  employ  for 
nutrition,  strictly  so  called,  that  is,  for  the  production 


63  PROPERTIES  OF  STARCH 

of  blood  ;  substances  which  may  be  entirely  dispensed 
with  in  their  nourishment  in  the  adult  state.  In  the 
young  of  carnivorous  birds,  the  want  of  all  motion  is 
an  obvious  cause  of  diminished  waste  in  the  organized 
parts  ;  hence,  milk  is  not  provided  for  them. 

The  nutritive  process  in  the  carnivora  thus  presents 
itself  in  two  distinct  forms  ;  one  of  which  we  again 
meet  with  in  the  graminivora. 

XIII.  In  the  class  of  graminivorous  animals,  we 
observe,  that  during  their  whole  life,  their  existence 
depends  on  the  supply  of  substances  having  a  compo- 
sition identical  with  that  of  sugar  of  milk,  or  closely 
resembling  it.  Every  thing  that  they  consume  as  food 
contains  a  certain  quantity  of  starch,  or  gum,  or  sugar, 
mixed  with  other  matters. 

The  most  abundant  and  widely-extended  of  the  sub- 
stances of  this  class  is  amylon  or  starch  ;  it  occurs  in 
roots,  seeds,  and  stalks,  and  even  in  wood,  deposited 
in  the  form  of  roundish  or  oval  globules,  which  differ 
from  each  other  in  size  alone,  being  identical  in  chemi- 
cal composition.  (11)  In  the  same  plant,  in  the  pea,  for 
example,  we  find  starch,  the  globules  of  which  differ  in 
size.  Those  in  the  expressed  juice  of  the  stalks  have  a 
diameter  of  from  2m  to  T|0  of  an  inch,  while  those  in  the 
seed  are  three  or  four  times  larger.  The  globules  in 
arrow-root  and  in  potato  starch  are  distinguished  by 
their  large  size  ;  those  of  rice  and  of  wheat  are  remark- 
ably small. 

It  is  well  known   that  starch  may  be  converted  into 


EASILY  CONVERTIBLE  INTO  SUGAR.  69 

sugar  by  very  different  means.  This  change  occurs  in 
the  process  of  germination,  as  in  malting,  and  it  is  easily 
accomplished  by  the  action  of  acids.  The  metamor- 
phosis of  starch  into  sugar  depends  simply,  as  is  proved 
by  analysis,  on  the  addition  of  the  elements  of  water. (12) 
All  the  carbon  of  the  starch  is  found  in  the  sugar  ;  none 
of  its  elements- have  been  separated,  and,  except  the 
elements  of  water,  no  foreign  element  has  been  added 
to  it  in  this  transformation. 

In  many,  especially  in  pulpy  fruits,  which  when  un- 
ripe are  sour  and  rough  to  the  taste,  but  when  ripe  are 
sweet,  as,  for  example,  in  apples  and  pears,  the  sugar 
is  produced  from  the  starch  which  the  unripe  fruit 
contains. 

If  we  rub  unripe  apples  or  pears  on  a  grater  to  a 
pulp,  and  wash  this  with  cold  water  on  a  fine  sieve,  the 
turbid  liquid,  which  passes  through,  deposits  a  very  fine 
flour  of  starch,  of  which  not  even  a  trace  can  be  de- 
tected in  the  ripe  fruit.  Many  varieties  become  sweet 
while  yet  on  the  tree  ;  these  are  the  summer  or  early 
apples  and  pears.  Others,  again,  become  sweet  only 
after  having  been  kept  for  a  certain  period  after  gather- 
ing. The  after-ripening,  as  this  change  is  called,  is  a 
purely  chemical  process,  entirely  independent  of  the 
vitality  of  the  plant.  When  vegetation  ceases,  the  fruit 
is  capable  of  reproducing  the  species,  that  is,  the  ker- 
nel, stone,  or  true  seed  is  fully  ripe,  but  the  fleshy  cov- 
ering from  this  period  is  subjected  to  the  action  of  the 
atmosphere.  Like  all  substances  in  a  state  of  erema- 


7Q.  SUGAR  OF  MILK,  GUM,   &c. 

causis,   or   decay,  it  absorbs  oxygen,  and   gives   off  a 
certain  quantity  of  carbonic  acid  gas. 

In  the  same  way  as  the  starch  in  putrefying  paste,  in 
which  it  is  in  contact  with  decaying  gluten,  is  converted 
into  sugar,  the  starch  in  the  above-named  fruits,  in  a 
state  of  decay,  or  eremacausis,  is  transformed  into  grape 
sugar.  The  more  starch  the  unripe  fruit  contains,  the 
sweeter  does  it  become  when  ripe. 

A  close  connexion  thus  exists  between  sugar  and 
starch.  By  means  of  a  variety  of  chemical  actions, 
which  exert  no  other  influence  on  the  elements  of  starch 
than  that  of  changing  the  direction  of  their  mutual  at- 
traction, we  can  convert  starch  into  sugar,  but  it  is 
always  grape  sugar. 

Sugar  of  milk  in  many  respects  resembles  starch ; 
(is)  it  is,  by  itself,  incapable  of  the  vinous  fermenta- 
tion, but  it  acquires  the  property  of  resolving  itself  into 
alcohol  and  carbonic  acid  when  it  is  exposed  to  heat  in 
contact  with  a  substance  in  the  state  of  fermentation 
(such  as  putrefying  cheese  in  milk) .  In  this  case,  it  is 
first  converted  into  grape  sugar  ;  and  it  undergoes  the 
same  transformation,  when  it  is  kept  in  contact  with 
acids,  — with  sulphuric  acid,  for  example, — at  the  or- 
dinary temperature. 

Gum  has  the  same  composition  in  100  parts  as  cane- 
sugar.  (14)  It  is  distinguished  from  the  different  varieties 
of  sugar  by  its  not  possessing  the  property  of  being  re- 
solved into  alcohol  and  carbonic  acid  by  the  process  of 
putrefaction.  When  placed  in  contact  with  fermenting 
substances,  it  undergoes  no  appreciable  change,  whence 


COMPARED  WITH  STARCH.  71 

we  may  conclude,  with  some  degree  of  probability,  that 
its  elements,  in  the  peculiar  arrangement  according  to 
which  they  are  united,  are  held  together  with  a  stronger 
force  than  the  elements  of  the  different  kinds  of  sugar. 

There  is,  however,  a  certain  relation  between  gum 
and  sugar  of  milk,  since  both  of  them,  when  treated 
with  nitric  acid,  yield  the  same  oxidized  product,  name- 
ly, mucic  acid,  which  cannot  under  the  same  circum- 
stances, be  formed  from  any  of  the  other  kinds  of 
sugar. 

In  order  to  show  more  distinctly  the  similarity  of 
composition  in  these  different  substances,  which  per- 
form so  important  a  part  in  the  nutritive  process  of  the 
graminivora,  let  us  represent  one  equivalent  of  carbon 
by  C  (=  75-8),  and  one  equivalent  of  water  by  aqua 
(==  112-4),  we  shall  then  have  for  the  composition  of 
these  substances  the  following  expressions  :  — 

Starch    .  .  .  .  s=  12  C  -f 10  aqua. 

Cane  Sugar   .  =  12  C  +  10  aqua  -j-  1  aqua. 

Gum =  12  C  -|-  10  aqua  -{-  1  aqua. 

Sugar  of  milk  =  12  C  -f  10  aqua  -f-  2  aqua. 
Grape  Sugar    =  12  C  -j- 10  aqua  +  4  aqua. 

For  the  same  number  of  equivalents  of  carbon,  starch 
contains  10  equivalents,  cane-sugar  and  gum  11  equiva- 
lents, sugar  of  milk  12  equivalents,  and  grape-sugar  14 
equivalents,  of  water,  or  the  elements  of  water. 

XIV.  In  these  different  substances,  some  one  of 
which  is  never  wanting  in  the  food  of  the  graminivora, 
there  is  added  to  the  nitrogenized  constituents  of  this 
food,  to  the  vegetable  albumen,  fibrine,  and  caseine, 


72  GRAMINIVORA  REQUIRE 

from  which  their  blood  is  formed,  strictly  speaking,  only 
a  certain  excess  of  carbon,  which  the  animal  organism 
cannot  possibly  employ  to  produce  fibrine  or  albumen, 
because  the  nitrogenized  constituents  of  the  food  al- 
ready contain  the  carbon  necessary  for  the  production 
of  blood,  and  because  the  blood  in  the  body  of  the 
carnivora  is  formed  without  the  aid  of  this  excess  of 
carbon. 

The  function  performed  in  the  vital  process  of  the 
graminivora  by  these  substances  (sugar,  gum,  &c.)  is 
indicated  in  a  very  clear  and  convincing  manner,  when 
we  take  into  consideration  the  very  small  relative 
amount  of  the  carbon  which  these  animals  consume  in 
the  nitrogenized  constituents  of  their  food,  which  bears 
no  proportion  whatever  to  the  oxygen  absorbed  through 
the  skin  and  lungs. 

A  horse,  for  example,  can  be  kept  in  perfectly  good 
condition,  if  he  obtain  as  food  15  Ibs.  of  hay  and  4J 
Ibs.  of  oats,  daily.  If  we  now  calculate  the  whole 
amount  of  nitrogen  in  these  matters,  as  ascertained  by 
analysis  (1-5  per  cent,  in  the  hay,  2'2  per  cent,  in  the 
oats),  (is)  in  the  form  of  blood,  that  is,  as  fibrine  and 
albumen,  with  the  due  proportion  of  water  in  blood 
(80  per  cent.),  the  horse  receives  daily  no  more  than 
4 1  oz.  of  nitrogen,  corresponding  to  about  8  Ibs.  of 
blood.  But  along  with  this  nitrogen,  that  is,  combined 
with  it  in  the  form  of  fibrine  or  albumen,  the  animal 
receives  only  about  14 J  oz.  of  carbon.  Only  about 
8  oz.  of  this  can  be  employed  to  support  respiration, 
for  with  the  nitrogen  expelled  in  the  urine  there  are 


MUCH  CARBON.  73 

combined,  in  the  form  of  urea,  3  oz.,  and  in  the  form 
of  hippuric  acid,  3|  oz.,  of  carbon. 

Without  going  further  into  the  calculation,  it  will 
readily  be  admitted,  that  the  volume  of  air  inspired  and 
expired  by  a  horse,  the  quantity  of  oxygen  consumed, 
and,  as  a  necessary  consequence,  the  amount  of  car- 
bonic acid  given  out  by  the  animal,  is  much  greater  than 
in  the  respiratory  process  in  man.  But  an  adult  man 
consumes  daily  about  14  oz.  of  carbon,  and  the  deter- 
mination of  Boussingault,  according  to  which  a  horse 
expires  79  oz.  daily,  cannot  be  very  far  from  the  truth. 

In  the  nitrogenized  constituents  of  his  food,  therefore, 
the  horse  receives  rather  less  than  the  fifth  part  of  the 
carbon  which  his  organism  requires  for  the  support  of 
the  respiratory  process  ;  and  we  see  that  the  wisdom 
of  the  Creator  has  added  to  his  food  the  fths  which  are 
wanting,  in  various  forms,  as  starch,  sugar,  &c.  with 
which  the  animal  must  be  supplied,  or  his  organism  will 
be  destroyed  by  the  action  of  the  oxygen. 

It  is  obvious,  that  in  the  system  of  the  graminivora, 
whose  food  contains  so  small  a  proportion,  relatively, 
of  the  constituents  of  blood,  the  process  of  metamor- 
phosis in  existing  tissues,  and  consequently  their  resto- 
ration or  reproduction,  must  go  on  far  less  rapidly  than 
in  the  carnivora.  Were  this  not  the  case,  a  vegetation 
a  thousand  times  more  luxuriant  than  the  actual  one 
would  not  suffice  for  their  nourishment.  Sugar,  gum, 
and  starch,  would  no  longer  be  necessary  to  support  life 
in  these  animals,  because,  in  that  case,  the  products  of 
the  waste,  or  metamorphosis  of  the  organized  tissues, 
7 


74  WASTE  OF  ORGANIZED  TISSUES 

would  contain  enough  of  carbon  to  support  the  respira- 
tory process. 

Man,  when  confined  to  animal  food,  requires  for  his 
support  and  nourishment  extensive  sources  of  food, 
even  more  widely  extended  than  the  lion  and  tiger,  be- 
cause when  he  has  the  opportunity,  he  kills  without 
eating. 

A  nation  of  hunters,  on  a  limited  space,  is  utterly 
incapable  of  increasing  its  numbers  beyond  a  certain 
point,  which  is  soon  attained.  The  carbon  necessary 
for  respiration  must  be  obtained  from  the  animals,  of 
which  only  a  limited  number  can  live  on  the  space  sup- 
posed. These  animals  collect  from  plants  the  con- 
stituents of  their  organs  and  of  their  blood,  and  yield 
them,  in  turn,  to  the  savages  who  live  by  the  chase 
alone.  They,  again,  receive  this  food  unaccompanied 
by  those  compounds,  destitute  of  nitrogen,  which,  dur- 
ing the  life  of  the  animals,  served  to  support  the  res- 
piratory process.  In  such  men,  confined  to  an  animal 
diet,  it  is  the  carbon  of  the  flesh  and  of  the  blood  which 
must  take  the  place  of  starch  and  sugar. 

But  15  Ibs.  of  flesh  contain  not  more  carbon  than 
4  Ibs.  of  starch,  (ie)  and  while  the  savage  with  one  ani- 
mal and  an  equal  weight  of  starch  could  maintain  life 
and  health  for  a  certain  number  of  days,  he  would  be 
compelled,  if  confined  to  flesh,  in  order  to  procure  the 
carbon  necessary  for  respiration,  during  the  same  time, 
to  consume  five  such  animals. 

It  is  easy  to  see,  from  these  considerations,  how 
close  the  connexion  is  between  agriculture  and  the  mul- 


VERY  RAPID  IN  CARNIVORA.  75 

tiplication  of  the  human  species.  The  cultivation  of 
our  crops  has  ultimately  no  other  object  than  the  pro- 
duction of  a  maximum  of  those  substances  which  are 
adapted  for  assimilation  and  respiration,  in  the  smallest 
possible  space.  Grain  and  other  nutritious  vegetables 
yield  us,  not  only  in  starch,  sugar,  and  gum,  the  carbon 
which  protects  our  organs  from  the  action  of  oxygen, 
and  produces  in  the  organism  the  heat  which  is  essential 
to  life,  but  also  in  the  form  of  vegetable  fibrine,  albu- 
men, and  caseine,  our  blood,  from  which  the  other  parts 
of  our  body  are  developed. 

Man,  when  confined  to  animal  food,  respires,  like 
the  carnivora,  at  the  expense  of  the  matters  produced 
by  the  metamorphosis  of  organized  tissues  ;  and,  just 
as  the  lion,  tiger,  hyaena,  in  the  cages  of  a  menagerie, 
are  compelled  to  accelerate  the  waste  of  the  organized 
tissues  by  incessant  motion,  in  order  to  furnish  the  mat- 
ter necessary  for  respiration,  so,  the  savage,  for  the 
very  same  object,  is  forced  to  make  the  most  laborious 
exertions,  and  go  through  a  vast  amount  of  muscular 
exercise.  He  is  compelled  to  consume  force  merely 
in  order  to  supply  matter  for  respiration. 

Cultivation  is  the  economy  of  force.  Science  teaches 
us  the  simplest  means  of  obtaining  the  greatest  effect 
with  the  smallest  expenditure  of  power,  and  with  given 
means  to  produce  a  maximum  of  force.  The  unprofit- 
able exertion  of  power,  the  waste  of  force  in  agricul- 
ture, in  other  branches  of  industry,  in  science,  or  in 
social  economy,  is  characteristic  of  the  savage  state,  or 
of  the  want  of  cultivation. 


76  PHOSPHATES  ABOUND  IN 

XV.  A  comparison  of  the  urine  of  the  carnivora 
with  that  of  the  graminivora  shows  very  clearly,  that 
the  process  of  metamorphosis  in  the  tissues  is  differ- 
ent, both  in  form  and  in  rapidity,  in  the  two  classes 
of  animals. 

The  urine  of  carnivorous  animals  is  acid,  and  con- 
tains alkaline  bases,  united  with  uric,  phosphoric,  and 
sulphuric  acids.  We  know  perfectly  the  source  of  the 
two  latter  acids.  All  the  tissues,  with  the  exception  of 
cellular  tissue  and  membrane,  contain  phosphoric  acid 
and  sulphur,  which  latter  element  is  converted  into  sul- 
phuric acid  by  the  oxygen  of  the  arterial  blood.  In  the 
various  fluids  of  the  body  there  are  only  traces  of  phos- 
phates or  sulphates,  except  in  the  urine,  where  both  are 
found  in  abundance.  It  is  plain  that  they  are  derived 
from  the  metamorphosed  tissues  ;  they  enter  into  the 
venous  blood  in  the  form  of  soluble  salts,  and  are  separ- 
ated from  it  in  its  passage  through  the  kidneys. 

The  urine  of  the  graminivora  is  alkaline  ;  it  contains 
alkaline  carbonates  in  abundance,  and  so  small  a  portion 
of  alkaline  phosphates  as  to  have  been  overlooked  by 
most  observers.  * 

The  deficiency,  or  absence  of  alkaline  phosphates  in 

*  In  a  series  of  observations,  continued  daily  during  ninety-six 
days,  human  urine  was  found  to  be,  on  four  occasions,  feebly  acid  in 
the  morning.  In  almost  every  observation  it  was  found  neutral, 
or  very  feebly  alkaline.  Lactate  of  urea  could  never  be  detected 
in  it.  —  J.  L. 

The  translator  would  add  to  this  note,  that  in  numerous  experi- 
ments made  by  him,  the  process  given  by  Messrs.  Cap  and  Henry 
for  extracting  lactate  of  urea  from  human  urine,  yielded  invariably 
pure  urea.  —  W.  G. 


THE  URINE  OF  CARNFVORA.  77 

the  urine  of  the  graminivora,  obviously  indicates  the 
slowness  with  which  the  tissues  in  this  class  of  animals 
are  metamorphosed  ;  for  if  we  assume,  that  a  horse 
consumes  a  quantity  of  vegetable  fibrine  and  albumen 
corresponding  to  the  amount  of  nitrogen  in  his  daily 
food  (about  4|  oz.),  and  that  the  quantity  of  tissue  met- 
amorphosed is  equal  to  that  newly  formed,  then  the 
quantity  of  phosphoric  acid  which  on  these  suppositions 
would  exist  in  the  urine  is  not  so  small  as  not  to  be  easily 
detected  by  analysis  in  the  daily  secretion  of  urine 
(3  Ibs.  according  to  Boussingault)  ;  for  it  would  amount 
to  0*8  per  cent.  But,  as  above  stated,  most  observers 
have  been  unable  to  detect  phosphoric  acid  in  the  urine 
of  the  horse. 

Hence  it  is  obvious,  that  the  phosphoric  acid,  which, 
in  consequence  of  the  metamorphosis  of  tissues  is  pro- 
duced in  the  form  of  soluble  alkaline  phosphates,  must 
reenter  the  circulation  in  this  class  of  animals.  It  is 
there  employed  in  forming  brain  and  nervous  matter,  to 
which  it  is  essential. 

In  the  graminivora,  therefore,  whose  food  contains  so 
small  a  proportion  of  phosphorus  or  of  phosphates,  the 
organism  collects  all  the  soluble  phosphates  produced  by 
the  metamorphosis  of  tissues  and  employs  them  for  the 
development  of  the  bones  and  of  the  phosphorized  con- 
stituents of  the  brain.  The  organs  of  excretion  do  not 
separate  these  salts  from  the  blood ;  and  the  excrements 
of  the  graminivora  contain  only  insoluble  earthy  phos- 
phates. 

7* 


78  ASSIMILATION  IN  CARNIVORA. 

XVI.  If  we  now  compare  the  capacity  for  increase 
of  mass,  the  assimilative  power  in  the  grarninivora  and 
carnivora,  the  commonest  observations  indicate  a  very 
marked  difference. 

A  spider,  which  sucks  with  extreme  voracity  the 
blood  of  the  first  fly,  is  not  disturbed  or  excited  by  a 
second  or  third.  A  cat  will  eat  the  first,  and  perhaps 
the  second  mouse  presented  to  her,  but  even  if  she 
kills  a  third,  she  does  not  devour  it.  Exactly  similar 
observations  have  been  made  in  regard  to  lions  and 
tigers,  which  only  devour  their  prey  when  urged  by 
hunger.  Carnivorous  animals,  indeed,  require  less  food 
for  their  mere  support,  because  their  skin  is  destitute  of 
perspiratory  pores,  and  because  they  consequently  lose, 
for  equal  bulks,  much  less  heat  than  graminivorous  ani- 
mals, which  are  compelled  to  restore  the  lost  heat  by 
means  of  food  adapted  for  respiration. 

How  different  is  the  energy  and  intensity  of  vegeta- 
tive life  in  the  grarninivora.  A  cow,  or  a  sheep,  in 
the  meadow,  eats,  almost  without  interruption,  as  long 
as  the  sun  is  above  the  horizon.  Their  system  possesses 
the  power  of  converting  into  organized  tissues  all  the 
food  they  devour  beyond  the  quantity  required  for  mere- 
ly supplying  the  waste  of  their  bodies. 

All  the  excess  of  blood  produced  is  converted  into 
cellular  and  muscular  tissue  ;  the  graminivorous  animal 
becomes  fleshy  and  plump,  while  the  flesh  of  the  carniv- 
orous animal  is  always  tough  and  sinewy. 

If  we  consider  the  case  of  a  stag,  a  roe-deer,  or  a 
hare,  animals  which  consume  the  same  food  as  cattle 


LESS  ENERGETIC  THAN  IN  HERBIVORA.  79 

and  sheep,  it  is  evident,  that,  when  well  supplied  with 
food,  their  growth  in  size,  their  fattening,  .must  depend 
on  the  quantity  of  vegetable  albumen,  fibrine,  or  caseine, 
which  they  consume.  With  free  and  unimpeded  mo- 
tion and  exercise,  enough  of  oxygen  is  absorbed  to  con- 
sume the  carbon  of  the  gum,  sugar,  starch,  and  of  all 
similar  soluble  constituents  of  their  food. 

But  all  this  is  very  differently  arranged  in  our  domes- 
tic animals,  when,  with  an  abundant  supply  of  food,  we 
check  the  processes  of  cooling  and  exhalation,  as  we  do 
when  we  feed  them  in  stables,  where  free  motion  is  im- 
possible. 

The  stall-fed  animal  eats,  and  reposes  merely  for  di- 
gestion. It  devours  in  the  shape  of  nitrogenized  com- 
pounds far  more  food  than  is  required  for  reproduction, 
or  the  supply  of  waste  alone  ;  and  at  the  same  time  it 
eats  far  more  of  substances  devoid  of  nitrogen  than  is 
necessary  merely  to  support  respiration  and  to  keep  up 
animal  heat.  Want  of  exercise  and  diminished  cooling 
are  equivalent  to  a  deficient  supply  of  oxygen  ;  for  when 
these  circumstances  occur,  the  animal  absorbs  much  less 
oxygen  than  is  required  to  convert  into  carbonic  acid  the 
carbon  of  the  substances  destined  for  respiration.  Only 
a  small  part  of  the  excess  of  carbon  thus  occasioned  is 
expelled  from  the*  body  in  the  horse  and  ox,  in  the  form 
of  hippuric  acid  ;  and  all  the  remainder  is  employed  in 
the  production  of  a  substance,  which,  in  the  normal 
state,  only  occurs  in  small  quantity  as  a  constituent  of 
the  nerves  and  brain.  This  substance  is  fat. 

In  the  normal  condition,  as  to  exercise  and  labor,  the 


80  ORIGIN  OF  FAT  IN 

urine  of  the  horse  and  ox  contains  benzoic  acid  (with 
14  equivalents  of  carbon)  ;  but  as  soon  as  the  animal  is 
kept  quiet  in  the  stable,  the  urine  contains  hippuric  acid 
(with  18  equivalents  of  carbon). 

The  flesh  of  wild  animals  is  devoid  of  fat ;  while 
that  of  stall-fed  animals  is  covered  with  that  substance. 
When  the  fattened  animal  is  allowed  to  move  more 
freely  in  the  air,  or  compelled  to  draw  heavy  burdens, 
the  fat  again  disappears. 

It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  the  formation  of  fat  in 
the  animal  body  is  the  result  of  a  want  of  due  propor- 
tion between  the  food  taken  into  the  stomach  and  the 
oxygen  absorbed  by  the  lungs  and  the  skin. 

A  pig,  when  fed  with  highly  nitrogenized  food,  be- 
comes full  of  flesh  ;  when  fed  with  potatoes  (starch)  it 
acquires  little  flesh,  but  a  thick  layer  of  fat.  The  milk 
of  a  cow,  when  stall  fed,  is  very  rich  in  butter,  but  in 
the  meadow  is  found  to  contain  more  caseine,  and  in 
the  same  proportion  less  butter  and  sugar  of  milk.  In 
the  human  female,  beer  and  farinaceous  diet  increase 
the  proportion  of  butter  in  the  milk  ;  an  animal  diet 
yields  less  milk,  but  it  is  richer  in  caseine. 

If  we  reflect,  that  in  the  entire  class  of  carnivora, 
the  food  of  which  contains  no  substance  devoid  of  ni- 
trogen except  fat,  the  production  of  fat  in  the  body  is 
utterly  insignificant ;  that  even  in  these  animals,  as  in 
dogs  and  cats,  it  increases  as  soon  as  they  live  on  a 
mixed  diet  ;  and  that  we  can  increase  the  formation  of 
fat  in  other  domestic  animals  at  pleasure,  but  only  by 
means  of  food  containing  no  nitrogen  ;  we  can  hardly 


DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS.  81 

entertain  a  doubt  that  such  food,  in  its  various  forms  of 
starch,  sugar,  &c.,  is  closely  connected  with  the  pro- 
duction of  fat. 

In  the  natural  course  of  scientific  research,  we  draw 
conclusions  from  the  food  in  regard  to  the  tissues  or 
substances  formed  from  it  ;  from  the  nitrogenized  con- 
stituents of  plants  we  draw  certain  inferences  as  to  the 
nitrogenized  constituents  of  the  blood  ;  and  it  is  quite 
in  accordance  with  this,  the  natural  method,  that  we 
should  seek  to  establish  the  relations  of  those  parts  of 
our  food  which  are  devoid  of  nitrogen  and  those  parts 
of  the  body  which  contain  none  of  that  element.  It  is 
impossible  to  overlook  the  very  intimate  connexion  be- 
tween them. 

If  we  compare  the  composition  of  sugar  of  milk,  of 
starch,  and  of  the  other  varieties  of  sugar,  with  that  of 
mutton  and  beef  suet,  and  of  human  fat,  we  find  that  in 
all  of  them  the  proportion  of  carbon  to  hydrogen  is  the 
same,  and  that  they  only  differ  in  that  of  oxygen. 

According  to  the  analyses  of  Chevreul,  mutton  fat, 
human  fat,  and  hog's  lard  contain  79  per  cent,  of  carbon 
to  11*1,  11*4,  and  11*7  per  cent,  of  hydrogen  respec- 
tively. (ie) 

Starch  contains    44-91  carbon  to  6-11  hydrogen. 
Gum  and  sugar   42-58    to  6-57      ditto. (w) 

It  is  obvious  that  these  numbers,  representing  the 
relative  proportions  of  carbon  and  hydrogen  in  starch, 
gum,  and  sugar,  are  in  the  same  ratio  as  the  carbon  and 
hydrogen  in  the  different  kinds  of  fat ;  for 

44-91    :   6-11   =  79  :    10-75 
42-58   :   6-37  =   79   :    11-82 


82  ORIGIN  OF  FAT  IN 

From  which  it  follows,  that  sugar,  starch,  and  gum,  by 
the  mere  separation  of  a  part  of  their  oxygen,  may  pass 
into  fat,  or  at  least  into  a  substance  having  exactly  the 
composition  of  fat.  If  from  the  formula  of  starch, 
C12H10O10,  we  take  9  equivalents  of  oxygen,  there  will 
remain  in  100  parts  — 

C12 ..80-4 

H10 •• 10  8 

O       10-8 

The  empirical  formula  of  fat,  which  comes  nearest 
to  this,  is  C^H^O,  which  gives  in  100  parts  — 

Cn    78-9 

H10 11-6 

O 9-5 

According  to  this  formula,  an  equivalent  of  starch,  in 
order  to  be  changed  into  fat,  would  lose  1  equivalent  of 
carbonic  acid,  CO2,  and  7  equivalents  of  oxygen. 

Now  the  composition  of  all  saponifiable  fatty  bodies 
agrees  very  closely  with  one  or  other  of  these  two  for- 
mulae. 

If  from  3  equivalents  of  sugar  of  milk,  3C12H12O12 
=  C36H36O36 ,  we  take  away  four  equivalents  of  water 
and  31  of  oxygen,  there  will  remain  C36H32O,  a  formula 
which  accurately  represents  the  composition  of  choles- 
terine,  the  fat  of  bile,  (is) 

Whatever  views  we  may  entertain  regarding  the  origin 
of  the  fatty  constituents  of  the  body,  this  much  at  least 
is  undeniable,  that  the  herbs  and  roots  consumed  by  the 
cow  contain  no  butter  ;  that  in  hay  or  the  other  fodder 
of  oxen  no  beef  suet  exists  ;  that  no  hog's  lard  can  be 
found  in  the  potato  refuse  given  to  swine  ;  and  that  the 


DOMESTICATED  ANIMALS.  83 

food  of  geese  or  fowls  contains  no  goose  fat  or  capon 
fat.  The  masses  of  fat  found  in  the  bodies  of  these 
animals  are  formed  in  their  organism  ;  and  when  the 
full  value  of  this  fact  is  recognised,  it  entitles  us  to  con- 
clude that  a  certain  quantity  of  oxygen,  in  some  form 
or  other,  separates  from  the  constituents  of  their  food  ; 
for  without  such  a  separation  of  oxygen,  no  fat  could 
possibly  be  formed  from  any  one  of  these  substances. 

The  chemical  analysis  of  the  constituents  of  the  food 
of  the  graminivora  shows,  in  the  clearest  manner,  that 
they  contain  carbon  and  oxygen  in  certain  proportions  ; 
which,  when  reduced  to  equivalents,  yield  the  following 
series  :  — 

In  vegetable  fibrine,  albumen,  and  caseine,  there  are  contained, 

for 120  eq.  carbon,    36  eq.  oxygen 

In  starch 120 100 

In  cane  sugar 120 110 

In  gum     120 110 

In  sugar  of  milk   (..';.   ....  120 120 

In  grape  sugar 120 140 

Noio  in  all  fatty  bodies  there  are  contained,  on  an 
average  — 

for 120  eq.  carb.  only  10  eq.  oxygen. 

Since  the  carbon  of  the  fatty  constituents  of  the  ani- 
mal body  is  derived  from  the  food,  seeing  that  there  is 
no  other  source  whence  it  can  be  derived,  it  is  obvious, 
if  we  suppose  fat  to  be  formed  from  albumen,  fibrine, 
or  caseine,  that,  for  every  120  equivalents  of  carbon 
deposited  as  fat,  26  equivalents  of  oxygen  must  be  sep- 
arated from  the  elements  of  these  substances  ;  and  fur- 
ther, if  we  conceive  fat  to  be  formed  from  starch,  sugar, 
or  sugar  of  milk,  that  for  the  same  amount  of  carbon 


84  THE  FORMATION  OF  FAT. 

there  must  be  separated  90,  100,  and  110  equivalents 
of  oxygen  from  these  compounds  respectively. 

There  is,  therefore,  but  one  way  in  which  the  forma- 
tion of  fat  in  the  animal  body  is  possible,  and  this  is 
absolutely  the  same  in  which  its  formation  in  plants 
takes  place  ;  it  is  a  separation  of  oxygen  from  the  ele- 
ments of  the  food. 

The  carbon  which  we  find  deposited  in  the  seeds  and 
fruits  of  vegetables,  in  the  form  of  oil  and  fat,  was  pre- 
viously a  constituent  of  the  atmosphere,  and  was  ab- 
sorbed by  the  plant  as  carbonic  acid.  Its  conversion 
into  fat  was  accomplished  under  the  influence  of  light, 
by  the  vital  force  of  the  vegetable  ;  and  the  greater  part 
of  the  oxygen  of  this  carbonic  acid  was  returned  to  the 
atmosphere  as  oxygen  gas.* 

In  contradistinction  to  this  phenomenon  of  vitality  in 
plants,  we  know  that  the  animal  system  absorbs  oxygen 
from  the  atmosphere,  and  that  this  oxygen  is  again  given 
out  in  combination  with  carbon  or  hydrogen  ;  we  know, 
that  in  the  formation  of  carbonic  acid  and  water,  the 
heat  necessary  to  sustain  the  constant  temperature  of 
the  body  is  produced,  and  that  a  process  of  oxidation 
is  the  only  source  of  animal  heat. 

Whether  fat  be  formed  by  the  decomposition  of 
fibrine  and  albumen,  the  chief  constituents  of  blood,  or 
by  that  of  starch,  sugar,  or  gum,  this  decomposition 
must  be  accompanied  by  the  separation  of  oxygen  from 
the  elements  of  these  compounds.  But  this  oxygen  is 

*  See  Appendix,  Note  19,  on  the  formation  of  wax  and  honey  by 
the  bee. 


FAT  HOW  FORMED.  85 

not  given  out  in  the  free  state,  because  it  meets  in  the 
organism  with  substances  possessing  the  property  of  en- 
tering into  combination  with  it.  In  fact,  it  is  given  out 
in  the  same  forms  as  that  which  is  absorbed  from  the 
atmosphere  by  the  skin  and  lungs. 

It  is  easy  to  see,  from  the  above  considerations,  that 
a  very  remarkable  connexion  exists  between  the  forma- 
tion of  fat  and  the  respiratory  process. 

XVII.  The  abnormal  condition,  which  causes  the 
deposit  of  fat  in  the  animal  body,  depends,  as  was  for- 
merly stated,  on  a  disproportion  between  the  quantity 
of  carbon  in  the  food  and  that  of  oxygen  absorbed  by 
the  skin  and  lungs.  In  the  normal  condition,  the  quan- 
tity of  carbon  given  out  is  exactly  equal  to  that  which 
is  taken  in  the  food,  and  the  body  acquires  no  increase 
of  weight  from  the  accumulation  of  substances  contain- 
ing much  carbon  and  no  nitrogen. 

If  we  increase  the  supply  of  highly  carbonized  food, 
then  the  normal  state  can  only  be  preserved  on  the  con- 
dition that,  by  exercise  and  labor,  the  waste  of  the 
body  is  increased,  and  the  supply  of  oxygen  augmented 
in  the  same  proportion. 

The  production  of  fat  is  always  a  consequence  of 
a  deficient  supply  of  oxygen,  for  oxygen  is  absolutely 
indispensable  for  the  dissipation  of  the  excess  of  carbon 
in  the  food.  This  excess  of  carbon,  deposited  in  the 
form  of  fat,  is  never  seen  in  the  Bedouin  or  in  the  Arab 
of  the  desert,  who  exhibits  with  pride  to  the  traveller 
his  lean,  muscular,  sinewy  limbs,  altogether  free  from 
8 


86  HEAT  DISENGAGED. 

fat ;  but  in  prisons  and  jails  it  appears  as  a  puffiness  in 
the  inmates,  fed,  as  they  are,  on  a  poor  and  scanty 
diet ;  it  appears  in  the  sedentary  females  of  oriental 
countries  ;  and  finally,  it  is  produced  under  the  well- 
known  conditions  of  the  fattening  of  domestic  animals. 

The  formation  of  fat  depends  on  a  deficiency  of  oxy- 
gen ;  but  in  this  process,  in  the  formation  of  fat  itself, 
there  is  opened  up  a  new  source  of  oxygen,  a  new  cause 
of  animal  heat. 

The  oxygen  set  free  in  the  formation  of  fat  is  given 
out  in  combination  with  carbon  or  hydrogen ;  and 
whether  this  carbon  and  hydrogen  proceed  from  the 
substance  that  yields  the  oxygen,  or  from  other  com- 
pounds, still  there  must  have  been  generated  by  this 
formation  of  carbonic  acid  or  water  as  much  heat  as  if 
an  equal  weight  of  carbon  or  hydrogen  had  been  burned 
in  air  or  in  oxygen  gas. 

If  we  suppose  that  from  2  equivalents  of  starch  18 
equivalents  of  oxygen  are  disengaged,  and  that  these  18 
equivalents  of  oxygen  combine  with  9  equivalents  of 
carbon,  from  the  bile,  for  example,  no  one  can  doubt 
that,  in  this  case,  exactly  as  much  heat  must  be  devel- 
oped, as  if  these  9  equivalents  of  carbon  had  been 
directly  burned.  In  this  form,  therefore,  the  disen- 
gagement of  heat  as  a  consequence  of  the  formation  of 
fat  would  be  undeniable  ;  and  it  could  only  be  consider- 
ed hypothetical,  on  the  supposition  that  carbon  and 
oxygen  were  disengaged  from  one  and  the  same  sub- 
stance, in  the  proportions  to  yield  carbonic  acid. 

If,  for  example,  we   suppose   that  from  2  atoms  of 


FORMATION  OF  FAT.  87 

starch,  C24H20O20,  the  elements  of  9  equivalents  of  car- 
bonic acid  are  separated,  there  will  remain  a  compound 
containing,  for  15  equivalents  of  carbon,  20  of  hydro- 
gen and  2  of  oxygen  ;  for 

C24H20Oo0  =  C9O18  -f-  C15H20O2. 

Or,  if  we  assume  that  oxygen  is  separated  from  starch 
in  the  form  both  of  carbonic  acid  and  water,  then,  after 
subtracting  the  elements  of  6  equivalents  of  water  and 
6  of  carbonic  acid,  there  would  remain  the  compound 
C18H1402 ;  for 

C24H20020  =  C6012  +  H606  +  C18H14O2. 

Assuming,  then,  the  separation  of  oxygen  in  either 
of  these  forms,  it  remains  to  be  decided  whether  the 
carbonic  acid  and  water  given  off  were  contained,  as 
such,  in  the  starch,  or  not. 

If  they  were  ready  formed  in  the  starch,  the  separa- 
tion might  occur  without  the  disengagement  of  heat ; 
but  if  the  carbon  and  hydrogen  were  present  in  any 
other  form  in  the  starch  (or  in  the  compound  from 
which  the  fat  was  produced) 4  it  is  obvious  that  a  change 
in  the  arrangement  of  the  atoms  must  have  occurred,  in 
consequence  of  which  the  atoms  of  the  carbon  and  of 
the  hydrogen  have  united  with  those  of  the  oxygen,  to 
form  carbonic  acid  and  water. 

Now,  so  far  as  chemical  researches  have  gone,  our 
knowledge  of  the  constitution  of  starch,  and  of  the  va- 
rieties of  sugar,  will  justify  no  other  conclusion  than 
this,  that  these  substancfes  contain  no  ready  formed  car- 
bonic acid. 

We  are  acquainted  with  a  large  number  of  processes 


88  THE  FORMATION  OF  FAT  IS 

of  metamorphosis  of  a  similar  kind,  in  which  the  ele- 
ments of  carbonic  acid  and  water  are  separated  from 
certain  preexisting  compounds  ;  and  we  know  with 
certainty  that  all  these  processes  are  accompanied  by  a 
disengagement  of  heat,  exactly  as  if  the  carbon  and 
hydrogen 'combined  directly  with  oxygen. 

Such  a  disengagement  of  carbonic  acid,  for  example, 
occurs  in  all  processes  of  fermentation  or  putrefaction, 
which  are,  without  exception,  accompanied  with  the 
generation  of  heat. 

In  the  fermentation  of  a  saccharine  solution,  in  con- 
sequence of  a  new  arrangement  of  the  elements  of  the 
sugar,  a  certain  part  of  its  carbon  and  oxygen  unite  to 
form  carbonic  acid,  which  separates  as  gas  ;  and  as  an- 
other result  of  this  decomposition,  we  obtain  a  volatile 
combustible  liquid,  containing  little  oxygen,  namely, 
alcohol. 

If  we  add  to  2  equivalents  of  sugar  the  elements  of 
12  equivalents  of  water,  and  subtract  from  the  sum  of 
the  atoms  24  equivalents. of  oxygen,  there  remain  6 
equivalents  of  alcohol. 

(C24H24024  -J-  H12012)  -  024  =  C24H36012  =  6  eq.  alcohol. 
These  24  equivalents  of  oxygen  suffice  to  oxidize 
completely  a  third  equivalent  of  sugar,  —  that  is,  to 
convert  its  carbon  into  carbonic  acid  and  its  hydrogen 
into  water,  and  by  this  oxidation  we  recover  the  12 
equivalents  of  water  supposed  to  be  added  in  the  former 
part  of  the  process,  exactly  as  if  this  water  had  taken 
no  share  in  it. 

Ci2H12O12  +  O24  =  12CO2  -f  12HO. 


A  SOURCE  OF  ANIMAL  HEAT.  89 

According  to  the  ordinary  view,  12  equivalents  of 
carbonic  acid  separate  from  3  of  sugar,  yielding  6  of 
alcohol,  —  that  is,  exactly  the  same  amount  of  these  pro- 
ducts as  if  two  thirds  of  the  sugar  had  yielded  oxygen 
to  the  remaining  third,  so  as  completely  to  oxidize  its 
elements. 

C36H36036  =  C24H36012  +  12C02.» 

By  a  comparison  of  these  two  methods  of  represent- 
ing the  same  change,  it  will  easily  be  seen,  that  the 
division  or  splitting  of  a  compound  like  sugar  into  car- 
bonic acid,  on  the  one  hand,  and  a  compound  containing 
little  oxygen,  on  the  other,  is,  in  its  results,  perfectly 
equivalent  to  a  separation  of  oxygen  from  a  certain  por- 
tion of  the  compound  and  the  oxidation  or  combustion 
of  another  portion  of  it  at  the  expense  of  this  oxygen. 

It  is  well  known  that  the  temperature  of  a  fermenting 
liquid  rises  ;  and  if  we  assume  that  a  hogshead  of  wort, 
holding  1,200  litres  =2,400  Ibs.,  French  weight,  con- 
tains 16  per  cent,  of  sugar,  in  all  384  Ibs.,  then,  during 
the  fermentation  of  this  sugar,  an  amount  of  heat  must 
be  generated  equal  to  that  which  would  be  produced 
by  the  combustion  of  51  Ibs.  of  carbon. 

This  is  equal  to  a  quantity  of  heat,  by  which  every 
pound  of  the  liquid  might  be  heated  by  297-9°  ;  that  is, 
supposing  the  decomposition  of  the  sugar  to  occur  in  a 
period  of  time  too  short  to  be  measured.  This  is  well 
known  not  to  be  the  case  ;  the  fermentation  lasts  five  or 
six  days,  and  each  pound  of  liquid  receives  the  297-9 

*  For  an  explanation  of  the  formulae  and  equations  employed,  see 
the  Introduction  to  the  Appendix. 


90  FORMATION  OF  FAT. 

degrees  of  heat  during  a  period  of  120  hours.  In  each 
hour  there  is,  therefore,  set  free  an  amount  of  heat  ca- 
pable of  raising  the  temperature  of  each  pound  of 
liquid  2-4  degree  ;  a  rise  of  temperature  which  is  very 
powerfully  counteracted  by  external  cooling  and  by  the 
vaporization  of  alcohol  and  water. 

The  formation  of  fat,  like  other  analogous  phenom- 
ena, in  which  oxygen  is  separated  in  the  form  of  car- 
bonic acid,  is  consequently  accompanied  by  a  disen- 
gagement of  heat.  This  change  supplies  to  the  animal 
body  a  certain  proportion  of  the  oxygen  indispensable  to 
the  vital  processes ;  and  this  especially  in  those  cases  in 
which  the  oxygen  absorbed  by  the  skin  and  lungs  is  not 
sufficient  to  convert  into  carbonic  acid  the  whole  of  the 
carbon  adapted  for  this  combination. 

This  excess  of  carbon,  as  it  cannot  be  employed  to 
form  a  part  of  any  organ,  is  deposited  in  the  cellular 
tissue  in  the  form  of  tallow  or  oil  ;  and  the  production 
of  this  fat,  explains  the  fact,  that  the  oxygen  given  out 
in  the  shape  of  carbonic  acid  and  water  is  more  than 
equal  to  that  directly  absorbed  in  respiration. 

At  every  period  of  animal  life,  when  there  occurs  a 
disproportion  between  the  carbon  of  the  food  and  the 
inspired  oxygen,  the  latter  being  deficient,  fat  must  be 
formed.  Oxygen  separates  from  existing  compounds, 
and  this  oxygen  is  given  out  as  carbonic  acid  or  water. 
The  heat  generated  in  the  formation  of  these  two  pro- 
ducts contributes  to  keep  up  the  temperature  of  the 
body.  Every  pound  of  carbon  which  obtains  the  oxygen 
necessary  to  convert  it  into  carbonic  acid  from  sub- 


FORMATION  OF  FAT.  91 

stances  which  thereby  pass  into  fat,  must  disengage  as 
much  heat- as  would  raise  the  temperature  of  200  Ibs. 
of  water  by  70°,  —  that  is,  from  32°  to  102°. 

Thus,  in  the  formation  of  fat,  the  vital  force  pos- 
sesses a  means  of  counteracting  a  deficiency  in  the  sup- 
ply of  oxygen,  and  consequently  in  that  of  the  heat 
indispensable  for  the  vital  process. 

Experience  teaches  us  that  in  poultry,  the  maximum 
of  fat  is  obtained  by  tying  the  feet,  and  by  a  medium 
temperature.  These  animals,  in  such  circumstances, 
may  be  compared  to  a  plant  possessing  in  the  highest 
degree  the  power  of  converting  all  food  into  parts  of  its 
own  structure.  The  excess  of  the  constituents  of  blood 
forms  flesh  and  other  organized  tissues,  while  that  of 
starch,  sugar,  &c.,  is  converted  into  fat.  When  ani- 
mals are  fattened  on  food  destitute  of  nitrogen,  only 
certain  parts  of  their  structure  increase  in  size.  Thus, 
in  a  goose,  fattened  in  the  method  above  alluded  to,  the 
liver  becomes  three  or  four  times  larger  than  in  the 
same  animal  when  well  fed  with  free  motion,  while  we 
cannot  say  that  the  organized  structure  of  the  liver  is 
thereby  increased.  The  liver  of  a  goose  fed  in  the 
ordinary  way  is  firm  and  elastic  ;  that  of  the  imprisoned 
animal  is  soft  and  spongy.  The  difference  consists  in 
a  greater  or  less  expansion  of  its  cells,  which  are  filled 
with  fat. 

In  some  diseases,  the  starch,  sugar,  &c.,  of  the  food 
obviously  do  not  undergo  the  changes  which  enable 
them  to  assist  in  respiration,  and  consequently  to  be 
converted  into  fat.  Thus,  in  diabetes  mellitus,  the 


92  CONSTITUENTS  OF  FOOD. 

starch  is  only  converted   into   grape  sugar,  which  is  ex- 
pelled from  the  body  without  further  change/ 

In  other  diseases,  as  for  example,  in  inflammation  of 
the  liver,  we  find  the  blood  loaded  with  fat  and  oil  ;  and 
in  the  composition  of  the  bile  there  is  nothing  at  all 
inconsistent  with  the  supposition,  that  some  of  its  con- 
stituents may  be  transformed  into  fat. 

XVIII.  According  to  what  has  been  laid  down  in  the 
preceding  pages,  the  substances  of  which  the  food  of 
man  is  composed  may  be  divided  into  two  classes  ;  into 
nitrogenized  and  non-nitrogenized.  The  former  are 
capable  of  conversion  into  blood  ;  the  latter  incapable 
of  this  transformation. 

Out  of  those  substances  which  are  adapted  to  the 
formation  of  blood  are  formed  all  the  organized  tissues. 
The  other  class  of  substances,  in  the  normal  state  of 
health,  serve  to  support  the  process  of  respiration. 
The  former  may  be  called  the  plastic  elements  of  nutri- 
tion j  the  latter,  elements  of  respiration. 

Among  the  former  we  reckon  — 

Vegetable  fibrine. 
>  Vegetable  albumen. 
Vegetable  caseine. 
Animal  flesh. 
Animal  blood. 

Among  the  elements  of  respiration  in  our  food,  are  — 

Fat.  Pectine. 

Starch.  Bassorine. 

Gum.  Wine. 

Cane  sugar.  Beer. 

Grape  sugar.  Spirits. 
Sugar  of  milk. 


CONSTITUENTS  OF  FOOD.  93 

XIX.  The  most  recent  and  exact  researches  have 
established  as  a  universal  fact,  to  which  nothing  yet 
known  is  opposed,  that  the  nitrogenized  constituents  of 
vegetable  food  have  a  composition  identical  with  that 
of  the  constituents  of  the  blood. 

No  nitrogenized  compound,  the  composition  of  which 
differs  from  that  of  fibrine,  albumen,  and  caseine,  is 
capable  of  supporting  the  vital  process  in  animals. 

The  animal  organism  unquestionably  possesses  the 
power  of  forming,  from  the  constituents  of  its  blood, 
the  substance  of  its  membranes  and  cellular  tissue,  of 
the  nerves  and  brain,  of  the  organic  part  of  cartilages 
and  bones.  But  the  blood  must  be  supplied  to  it  ready 
formed  in  every  thing  but  its  form,  —  that  is,  in  its 
chemical  composition.  If  this  be  not  done,  a  period  is 
rapidly  put  to  the  formation  of  blood,  and  consequently 
to  life. 

This  consideration  enables  us  easily  to  explain  how 
it  happens,  that  the  tissues  yielding  gelatine  or  chon- 
drine,  as,  for  example,  the  gelatine  of  skin  or  of  bones, 
are  not  adapted  for  the  support  of  the  vital  process  ; 
for  their  composition  is  different  from  that  of  fibrine  or 
albumen.  It  is  obvious,  that  this  means  nothing  more 
than  that  those  parts  of  the  animal  organism  which  form 
the  blood,  do  not  possess  the  power  of  effecting  a  trans- 
formation in  the  arrangement  of  the  elements  of  gelatine, 
or  of  those  tissues  which  contain  it.  The  gelatinous 
tissues,  the  gelatine  of  the  bones,  the  membranes,  the 
cells,  and  the  skin,  suffer,  in  the  animal  body,  under  the 
influence  of  oxygen  and  moisture,  a  progressive  altera- 


94  GELATINE 

tion  ;  a  part  of  these  -tissues  is  separated,  and  must  be 
restored  from  the  blood ;  but  this  alteration  and  restora- 
tion is  obviously  confined  within  very  narrow  limits.* 

While,  in  the  body  of  a  starving  or  sick  individual, 
the  fat  disappears,  and  the  muscular  tissue  takes  once 
more  the  form  of  blood,  we  find  that  the  tendons  and 
membranes  retain  their  natural  condition  ;  the  limbs  of 

*  It  is  probably  known  to  the  reader,  that  a  controversy  has  for 
some  time  been  carried  on  on  this  subject.  D'Arcet  first  proposed 
the  use  of  gelatine  as  an  article  of  hospital  diet,  and  introduced  it  in 
Paris  with  the  greatest  success. 

But  experiments  made  with  pure  gelatine  used  exclusively  as  food, 
showed  that  animals,  thus  fed,  soon  died  with  the  symptoms  of  starva- 
tion ;  and  it  was  found  that  men  fed  for  a  day  or  two  on  gelatine  ex- 
clusively, acquired  an  absolute  disgust  at  it.  It  was  hence  concluded, 
that  the  use  of  gelatine  in  any  shape  was  hurtful,  and  ought  not  to 
be  permitted. 

Now  that  we  know,  as  the  author  has  proved,  that  gelatine,  al- 
though formed  from  proteine,  is  no  longer  a  compound  of  proteine, 
and  cannot  yield  blood,  we  can  easily  see  how  it  is  incapable,  alone, 
of  supporting  life  and  health.  But  on  the  other  hand,  when  we  con- 
sider, how  great  a  part  of  the  body  (membranes  and  bones,  for 
example)  is  formed  of  gelatine,  when  we  see  the  dog  digesting  per- 
fectly the  gelatine  of  bones,  and  man  that  of  soup  or  jelly  j  we  must 
admit  the  great  probability  of  the  author's  most  ingenious  supposition, 
namely,  that  gelatine  is  dissolved  in  the  stomach,  and  enters  the 
blood,  where  it  serves  as  a  means  of  restoring  the  waste  of  the  gela- 
tinous tissues ;  while  the  weak  digestive  powers  of  a  convalescent  or 
patient  are  not  taxed  to  convert  albumen,  fibrine,  or  caseine  into  gela- 
tine ;  and  thus  its  use,  as  apart  only  of  the  diet  of  hospitals,  becomes 
at  once  obvious. 

We  can  no  longer  reject  the  facts  proved  by  D'Arcet,  (although 
peremptorily  denied  by  some,)  namely,  that  the  period  of  the  stay  of 
patients  in  the  hospital,  is,  on  the  average,  much  shortened  where 
gelatine  has  been  employed,  while,  when  mixed  with  other  food,  the 
patients  relish  it  highly.  At  least,  we  cannot  reject  them  without 
examination.  On  the  other  hand,  we  can  now  clearly  perceive  the 
error  of  those,  who,  because  the  composition  of  gelatine  approaches 
to  that  of  fibrine,  &c.,  maintained  it  to  be  equally  nutritious.  For 
our  knowledge  on  this  subject  we  are  indebted,  first,  to  the  discovery 
of  proteine  by  Mulder ;  secondly,  to  the  discovery,  that  gelatine  is 


MAY  SERVE  TO  NOURISH.  95 

the  dead  body  retain  their  connexions,  which  depend 
on  the  gelatinous  tissues. 

On  the  other  hand,  we  see  that  the  gelatine  of  bones 
devoured  by  a  dog  entirely  disappears,  while  only  the 
bone  earth  is  found  in  his  excrements.  The  same  is 
true  of  man,  when  fed  on  food  rich  in  gelatine,  as,  for 
example,  strong  soup.  The  gelatine  is  not  to  be  found 
either  in  the  urine  or  in  the  faeces,  and  consequently 
must  have  undergone  a  change,  and  must  have  served 
some  purpose  in  the  animal  economy. 

It  is  clear,  that  the  gelatine  must  be  expelled  from 
the  body  in  a  form  different  from  that  in  which  it  was 
introduced  as  food. 

When  we  consider  the  transformation  of  the  albumen 
of  the  blood  into  a  part  of  an  organ  composed  of  fibrine, 
the  identity  in  composition  of  the  two  substances  ren- 
ders the  change  easily  conceivable.  Indeed,  we  find 
the  change  of  a  dissolved  substance  into  an  insoluble 
organ  of  vitality,  chemically  speaking,  natural  and  easily 
explained,  on  account  of  this  very  identity  of  compo- 
sition. Hence,  the  opinion  is  not  unworthy  of  a  closer 
investigation,  that  gelatine,  when  taken  in  the  dissolved 
state,  is  again  converted,  in  the  body,  into  cellular 
tissue,  membrane,  and  cartilage  ;  that  it  may  serve  for 
the  reproduction  of  such  parts  of  these  tissues  as  have 
been  wasted,  and  for  their  growth. 

And  when  the  powers  of  nutrition  in  the  whole  body 


not  a  compound  of  proteine;  and,  thirdly,  to  the  sagacity  of  Liebig, 
in  first  drawing  the  conclusions  now  so  obvious  to  all  who  attend  to 
the  subject. 


96  GELATINE. 

are  affected  by  a  change  of  the  health,  then,  even  should 
the  power  of  forming  blood  remain  the  same,  the  organic 
force  by  which  the  constituents  of  the  blood  are  trans- 
formed into  cellular  tissue  and  membranes  must  neces- 
sarily be  enfeebled  by  sickness.  In  the  sick  man,  the 
intensity  of  the  vital  force,  its  power  to  produce  meta- 
morphoses, must  be  diminished  as  well  in  the  stomach 
as  in  all  other  parts  of  the  body.  In  this  condition,  the 
uniform  experience  of  practical  physicians  shows,  that 
gelatinous  matters  in  a  dissolved  state,  exercise  a  most 
decided  influence  on  the  state  of  the  health.  Given  in  a 
form  adapted  for  assimilation,  they  serve  to  husband  the 
vital  force,  just  as  may  be  done,  in  the  case  of  the  stom- 
ach, by  due  preparation  of  the  food  in  general.  Brittle- 
ness  in  the  bones  of  graminivorous  animals  is  clearly 
owing  to  a  weakness  in  those  parts  of  the  organism,  whose 
function  it  is  to  convert  the  constituents  of  the  blood 
into  cellular  tissue  and  membrane  ;  and,  if  we  can  trust 
to  the  reports  of  physicians  who  have  resided  in  the 
East,  the  Turkish  women,  in  their  diet  of  rice,  and  in 
the  frequent  use  of  enemata  of  strong  soup,  have  united 
the  conditions  necessary  for  the  formation  both  of  cel- 
lular tissue  and  of  fat. 


PART  II. 

THE 

METAMORPHOSIS  OF  TISSUES. 


THE 


METAMORPHOSIS  OF  TISSUES. 


1.  THE  absolute  identity  of  composition  in  the  chief 
constituents  of  blood  and   the  nitrogenized  compounds 
in  vegetable  food  would,  some  years  ago,  have  furnished 
a   plausible    reason   for   denying   the    accuracy   of  the 
chemical  analyses  leading  to  such   a  result.     At   that 
period,  experiment   had  not  as  yet  demonstrated    the 
existence  of  numerous  compounds,  both  containing  ni- 
trogen  and   devoid    of  that   element,   which,   with   the 
greatest  diversity  in  external  characters,  yet  possess  the 
very  same   composition  in   100  parts  ;  nay,   many  of 
which  even  contain  the  same  absolute  amount  of  equiv- 
alents of  each  element.     Such  examples  are  now  very 
frequent,  and  are  known  by  the  names  of  isomeric  and 
polymeric  compounds. 

2.  Cyanuric   acid,   for   example,   is   a   nitrogenized 
compound,  which  crystallizes   in   beautiful  transparent 
octahedrons,  easily  soluble  in  water  and  in  acids,  and 
very  permanent.     Cyamelide  is  a  second  body,  abso- 
lutely insoluble  in  water  and  acids,  white  and  opaque 
like  porcelain  or  magnesia.     Hydrated  cyanic  acid  is  a 
third   compound,  which  is  a  liquid,  more  volatile  than 
pure  acetic  acid,  which  blisters  the  skin,  and  cannot  be 


100  ISOMERIC  BODIES. 

brought  in  contact  with  water  without  being  instantane- 
ously resolved  into  new  products.  These  three  sub- 
stances not  only  yield,  on  analysis,  absolutely  the  same 
relative  weights  of  the  same  elements,  but  they  may  be 
converted  and  reconverted  into  one  another,  even  in 
hermetically  closed  vessels, —  that  is,  without  the  aid 
of  any  foreign  matter.  (See  Appendix,  21.)  Again, 
among  those  substances  which  contain  no  nitrogen,  we 
have  aldehyde,  a  combustible  liquid  miscible  with  water, 
which  boils  at  the  temperature  of  the  hand,  attracts 
oxygen  from  the  atmosphere  with  avidity,  and  is  there- 
by changed  into  acetic  acid.  This  compound  cannot 
be  preserved,  even  in  close  vessels  ;  for  after  some 
hours  or  days,  its  consistence,  its  volatility,  and  its 
power  of  absorbing  oxygen,  all  are  changed.  It  de- 
posits long,  hard,  needle-shaped  crystals,  which  at  212° 
are  not  volatilized,  and  the  supernatant  liquid  is  no  long- 
er aldehyde.  It  now  boils  at  140°,  cannot  be  mixed 
with  water,  and  when  cooled  to  a  moderate  degree  crys- 
tallizes in  a  form  like  ice.  Nevertheless,  analysis  has 
proved,  that  these  three  bodies,  so  different  in  their 
characters,  are  identical  in  composition.  (21) 

3.  A  similar  group  of  three  occurs  in  the  case  of 
albumen,  fibrine,  and  caseine.  They  differ  in  external 
character,  but  contain  exactly  the  same  proportions  of 
organic  elements. 

When  animal  albumen,  fibrine,  and  caseine  are  dis- 
solved in  a  moderately  strong  solution  of  caustic  pot- 
ash, and  the  solution  is  exposed  for  some  time  to  a 
high  temperature,  these  substances  are  decomposed. 


DISCOVERY  OF  PROTEINE.  101 

The  addition  of  acetic  acid  to  the  solution  causes,  in  all 
three,  the  separation  of  a  gelatinous  translucent  precipi- 
tate, which  has  exactly  the  same  characters  and  com- 
position, from  whichever  of  the  three  substances  above 
mentioned  it  has  been  obtained. 

MULDER,  to  whom  we  owe  the  discovery  of  this 
compound,  found,  by  exact  and  careful  analysis,  that  it 
contains  the  same  organic  elements,  and  exactly  in  the 
same  proportion,  as  the  animal  matters  from  which  it 
is  prepared  ;  insomuch,  that  if  we  chednct  from*  the 
analysis  of  albumen,  fibrine,  and  caseine,  <he  'ashes  they 
yield,  when  incinerated,  as  well  a$  the"  sniper  arid' 
phosphorus  they  contain,  and  then  calculate  the  re- 
mainder for  100  parts,  we  obtain  the  same  result  as  in 
the  analysis  of  the  precipitate  above  described,  pre- 
pared by  potash,  which  is  free  from  inorganic  matter,  (as) 

Viewed  in  this  light,  the  chief  constituents  of  the 
blood  and  the  caseine  of  milk  may  be  regarded  as  com- 
pounds of  phosphates  and  other  salts,  and  of  sulphur 
and  phosphorus,  with  a  compound  of  carbon,  nitrogen, 
hydrogen,  and  oxygen,  in  which  the  relative  proportion 
of  these  elements  is  invariable  ;  and  this  compound  may 
be  considered  as  the  commencement  and  starting-point 
of  all  other  animal  tissues,  because  these  are  all  pro- 
duced from  the  blood. 

These  considerations  induced  Mulder  to  give  to  this 
product  of  the   decomposition  of  albumen,  &c.  by  pot- 
ash, the  name  of  proteine  (from  TT^WTSWO,  "I  take   the 
first  rank").     The  blood,   or  the   constituents  of   the 
9* 


102  PROTEINS  EXISTS  IN  FIBRINE, 

blood,  are  consequently  compounds  of  this  proteine 
with  variable  proportions  of  inorganic  substances. 

Mulder  further  ascertained,  that  the  insoluble  nitro- 
genized  constituent  of  wheat  flour  (vegetable  fibrine), 
when  treated  with  potash,  yields  the  very  same  product, 
proteine  ;  and  it  has  recently  been  proved  that  vegeta- 
ble albumen  and  caseine  are  acted  on  by  potash  pre- 
cisely as  animal  albumen  and  caseine  are. 

4.  As  far,  therefore,  as  our  researches  have  gone,  it 
,  .  may  be  laid  down  as  a  law,  founded  on  experience,  that 
vegetables  produce,  in  their  organism,  compounds  of 
.  vprotcioe;.;  a;nd  ,tha^  out  of  these  compounds  of  proteine 
the  various  tissues  and  parts  of  the  animal  body  are  de- 
veloped by  the  vital  force,  with  the  aid  of  the  oxygen 
of  the  atmosphere  and  of  the  elements  of  water.  * 

Now,  although  it  cannot  be  demonstrated  that  proteine 
exists  ready  formed  in  these  vegetable  and  animal  pro- 
ducts, and  although  the  difference  in  their  properties 
seems  to  indicate  that  their  elements  are  not  arranged  in 
the  same  manner,  yet  the  hypothesis  of  the  preexistence 
of  proteine,  as  a  point  of  departure  in  developing  and 
comparing  their  properties,  is  exceedingly  convenient. 
At  all  events,  it  is  certain,  that  the  elements  of  these 


*  The  experiment  of  Tiedemann  and  Gmelin,  who  found  it  impos- 
sible to  sustain  the  life  of  geese  by  means  of  boiled  white  of  egg,  may 
be  easily  explained,  when  we  reflect  that  a  graminivorous  animal, 
especially  when  deprived  of  free  motion,  cannot  obtain,  from  the 
transformation  or  waste  of  the  tissues  alone,  enough  of  carbon  for  the 
respiratory  process.  2  Ibs.  of  albumen  contain  only  3£  oz.  of  carbon, 
of  which,  among  the  last  products  of  transformation,  a  fourth  part  is 
given  off  in  the  form  of  uric  acid.  — L. 


ALBUMEN,  AND  CASEINE.  103 

compounds  assume  the  same  arrangement  when  acted  on 
by  potash  at  a  high  temperature. 

All  the  organic  nitrogenized  constituents  of  the  body, 
how  different  soever  they  may  be  in  composition,  are 
derived  from  proteine.  They  are  formed  from  it,  by 
the  addition  or  subtraction  of  the  elements  of  water  or 
of  oxygen,  and  by  resolution  into  two  or  more  com- 
pounds. 

5.  This  proposition  must  be  received  as  an  undeniable 
truth,  when  we  reflect  on  the  development  of  the  young 
animal  in  the  egg  of  a  fowl.     The  egg  can  be  shown  to 
contain   no   other  nitrogenized  compound  except  albu- 
men.    The  albumen  of  the  yolk  is  identical  with  that 
of  the   white  ;  (23)  the   yolk   contains,  besides,  only  a 
yellow  fat,  in  which  cholesterine  and  iron  may  be  de- 
tected.    Yet   we    see,    in   the   process  of    incubation, 
during  which  no  food  and  no  foreign  matter,  except  the 
oxygen  of  the  air,  is  introduced,  or  can  take  part  in  the 
development  of  the   animal,  that  out  of  the  albumen, 
feathers,  claws,  globules  of  the  blood,    fibrine,   mem- 
brane  and  cellular  tissue,  arteries,  and  veins,  are  pro- 
duced.    The  fat  of  the  yolk  may  have  contributed,  to  a 
certain  extent,  to  the  formation  of  the  nerves  and  brain  ; 
but  the  carbon  of  this  fat  cannot  have  been  employed  to 
produce  the  organized  tissues  in  which  vitality  resides, 
because  the   albumen  of  the  white  and  of  the  yolk  al- 
ready contains,  for  the  quantity  of  nitrogen  present,  ex- 
actly the  proportion  of  carbon  required  for  the  forma- 
tion of  these  tissues. 

6.  The   true  starting-point  for  all  the  tissues  is,  con- 


104  DIGESTION  COMPARED 

sequently,  albumen  ;  all  nitrogenized  articles  of  food 
whether  derived  from  the  animal  or  from  the  vegetabL 
kingdom,  are  converted  into  albumen  before  they  cai 
take  part  in  the  process  of  nutrition. 

All  the  food  consumed  by  an  animal  becomes  in  thi 
stomach  soluble,  and  capable  of  entering  into  the  circu 
lation.  In  the  process  by  which  this  solution  is  effected 
only  one  fluid,  besides  the  oxygen  of  the  air,  takes  j 
part  ;  it  is  that  which  is  secreted  by  the  lining  membran< 
of  the  stomach. 

The  most  decisive  experiments  of  physiologists  have 
shown,  that  the  process  of  chymification  is  independen 
of  the  vital  force  ;  that  it  takes  place  in  virtue  of  a  pure 
Jy  chemical  action,  exactly  similar  to  those  processes  of 
decomposition  or  transformation  which  are  known  a: 
putrefaction,  fermentation,  or  decay  (eremacausis). 

7.  When  expressed  in  the  simplest  form,  fermenta- 
tion, or  putrefaction,  may  be  described  as  a  process  of 
transformation,  —  that  is,  a  new  arrangement  of  the  ele- 
mentary particles,  or  atoms,  of  a  compound,  yielding 
two  or  more  new  groups  or  compounds,  and  caused  bj 
contact  with  other  substances,  the  elementary  particles 
of  which  are  themselves  in  a  state  of  transformation  01 
decomposition.     It  is  a  communication,  or  an  imparting 
of  a  state  of  motion,  which  the  atoms  of  a  body  in  a 
state  of  motion  are  capable  of  producing  in  other  bodies, 
whose   elementary  particles  are  held  together  only  by  a 
feeble  attraction. 

8.  Thus  the  clear  gastric  juice  contains  a  substance 
in  a  state  of   transformation,  by  the  contact  of  which 


TO  FERMENTATION.  105 

with  those  constituents  of  the  food  which,  by  themselves, 
are  insoluble  in  water,  the  latter  acquire,  in  virtue  of  a 
new  grouping  of  their  atoms,  the  property  of  dissolving 
in  that  fluid.  During  digestion,  the  gastric  juice,  when 
separated,  is  found  to  contain  a  free  mineral  acid,  the 
presence  of  which  checks  all  further  change.  That  the 
food  is  rendered  soluble  quite  independently  of  the  vi- 
tality of  the  digestive  organs  has  been  proved  by  a  num- 
ber of  the  most  beautiful  experiments.  Food,  enclosed 
in  perforated  metallic  tubes,  so  that  it  could  not  come 
into  contact  with  the  stomach,  was  found  to  disappear  as 
rapidly,  and  td  be  as  perfectly  digested,  as  if  the  cover- 
ing had  been  absent ;  and  fresh  gastric  juice,  out  of  the 
body,  when  boiled  white  of  egg,  or  muscular  fibre,  were 
kept  in  contact  with  it  for  a  time  at  the  temperature  of 
the  body,  caused  these  substances  to  lose  the  solid  form 
and  to  dissolve  in  the  liquid. 

9.  It  can  hardly  be  doubted,  that  the  substance  which 
is  present  in  the  gastric  juice  in  a  state  of  change  is  a 
product  of  the  transformation  of  the  stomach  itself. 
No  substances  possess,  in  so  high  a  degree  as  those 
arising  from  the  progressive  decomposition  of  the  tis- 
sues containing  gelatine  or  chondrine,  the  property  of 
exciting  a  change  in  the  arrangement  of  the  elements  of 
other  compounds.  When  the  lining  membrane  of  the 
stomach  of  any  animal,  as,  for  example,  that  of  the 
calf,  is  cleaned  by  continued  washing  with  water,. it  pro- 
duces no  effect  whatever,  if  brought  into  contact  with 
a  solution  of  sugar,  with  milk,  or  other  substances. 
But  if  the  same  membrane  be  exposed  for  some  time  to 


106  POWER  OF  ANIMAL  MEMBRANE. 

the  air,  or  dried,  and  then  placed  in  contact  with  such 
substances,  the  sugar  is  changed,  according  to  the  state 
of  decomposition  of  the  animal  matter,  either  into  lactic 
acid,  into  mannite  and  mucilage,  or  into  alcohol  and 
carbonic  acid  ;  while  milk  is  instantly  coagulated.  An 
ordinary  animal  bladder  retains,  when  dry,  all  its  prop- 
erties unchanged  ;  but  when  exposed  to  air  and  moist- 
ure, it  undergoes  a  change  not  indicated  by  any  obvious 
external  signs.  If,  in  this  state,  it  be  placed  in  a  solu- 
tion of  sugar  of  milk,  that  substance  is  quickly  changed 
into  lactic  acid. 

10.  The  fresh  lining  membrane  of  the  stomach  of 
a  calf,  digested  with  weak  muriatic  acid,  gives  to  this 
fluid  no  power  of  dissolving  boiled  flesh  or  coagulated 
white  of  egg.  But  if  previously  allowed  to  dry,  or  if 
left  for  a  time  in  water,  it  then  yields,  to  water  acidulated 
with  muriatic  acid,  a  substance  in  minute  quantity,  the 
decomposition  of  which  is  already  commenced,  and  is 
completed  in  the  solution.  If  coagulated  albumen  be 
placed  in  this  solution,  the  state  of  decomposition  is 
communicated  to  it,  first  at  the  edges,  which  become 
translucent,  pass  into  a  mucilage,  and  finally  dissolve. 
The  same  change  gradually  affects  the  whole  mass,  and 
at  last  it  is  entirely  dissolved,  with  the  exception  of  fatty 
particles,  which  render  the  solution  turbid.  Oxygen  is 
conveyed  to  every  part  of  the  body  by  the  arterial 
blood ;  moisture  is  everywhere  present  ;  and  thus  we 
have  united  the  chief  conditions  of  all  transformations 
in  the  animal  body. 

Thus,  as  in  the  germination  of  seeds,  the  presence 


LACTIC  ACID.  107 

of  a  body  in  a  state  of  decomposition  or  transformation, 
which  has  been  called  diastase,  effects  the  solution  of 
the  starch, — that  is,  its  conversion  into  sugar;  so,  a 
product  of  the  metamorphosis  of  the  substance  of  the 
stomach,  being  itself  in  a  state  of  metamorphosis  which 
s  completed  in  the  stomach,  effects  the  dissolution  of 
all  such  parts  of  the  food  as  are  capable  of  assuming  a 
soluble  form.  In  certain  diseases,  there  are  produced 
from  the  starch,  sugar,  &c.,  of  the  food,  lactic  acid 
and  mucilage.  (24)  These  are  the  very  same  products 
which  we  can  produce  out  of  sugar  by  means  of  mem- 
brane in  a  state  of  decomposition  out  of  the  body  ;  but 
in  a  normal  state  of  health,  no  lactic  acid  is  formed  in 
the  stomach.  \ 

11.  The  property  possessed  by  many  substances, 
such  as  starch  and  the  varieties  of  sugar,  by  contact 
with  animal  substances  in  a  state  of  decomposition,  to 
pass  into  lactic  acid,  has  induced  physiologists,  without 
further  inquiry,  to  assume  the  fact  of  the  production  of 
lactic  acid  during  digestion  ;  and  the  power  which  this 
acid  has  of  dissolving  phosphate  of  lime  has  led  them 
to  ascribe  to  it  the  character  of  a  general  solvent.  But 
neither  Prout  nor  Braconnot  could  detect  lactic  acid  in 
the  gastric  juice  ;  and  even  Lehmann  (see  his  "  Lehr- 
buch  der  Physiologischen  Chemie,"  Tom.  L  p.  285) 
obtained  from  the  gastric  juice  of  a  cat  only  microscopic 
crystals,  which  he  took  for  lactate  of  zinc,  although 
their  chemical  character  could  not  be  ascertained.  The 
presence  of  free  muriatic  acid  in  the  gastric  juice,  first 
observed  by  Prout,  has  been  confirmed  by  all  those 


108  GASTRIC  JUICE. 

chemists  who  have  examined  that  fluid  since.  This 
muriatic  acid  is  obviously  derived  from  common  salt, 
the  soda  of  which  plays  a  very  decided  part  in  the  con- 
version of  fibrine  and  caseine  into  blood. 

Muriatic  acid  yields  to  no  other  acid  in  the  power  of 
dissolving  bone  earth,  and  even  acetic  acid,  in  this  re- 
spect, is  equal  to  lactic  acid.  There  is  consequently 
no  proof  of  the  necessity  of  lactic  acid  in  the  digestive 
process  ;  and  we  know  with  certainty,  that  in  artificial 
digestion  it  is  not  formed.  Berzelius,  indeed,  has  found 
lactic  acid  in  the  blood  and  flesh  of  animals  ;  but  when 
his  experiments  were  made,  chemists  were  ignorant  of 
the  extraordinary  facility  and  rapidity  with  which  this 
acid  is  formed  from  a  number  of  substances  containing 
its  elements,  when  in  contact  with  animal  matter. 

In  the  gastric  juice  of  a  dog,  Braconnot  found,  along 
with  free  muriatic  acid,  distinct  traces  of  a  salt  of  iron, 
which  he  at  first  held  to  be  an  accidental  admixture. 
But  in  the  gastric  juice  of  a  second  dog,  collected  with 
the  utmost  care,  the  iron  was  again  found.  (Ann.  de 
Ch.  et  de  Ph.  lix.  p.  249.)  This  occurrence  of  iron 
is  full  of  significance  in  regard  to  the  formation  of  the 
blood. 

12.  In  the  action  of  the  gastric  juice  on  the  food,  no 
other  element  takes  a  share,  except  the  oxygen  of  the 
atmosphere  and  the  elements  of  water.  This  oxygen 
is  introduced  directly  into  the  stomach.  During  the 
mastication  of  the  food,  there  is  secreted  into  the  mouth 
from  organs  specially  destined  to  this  function,  a  fluid, 
the  saliva,  which  possesses  the  remarkable  property  of 


NITROGEN  GIVEN  OUT.  109 

enclosing  air  in  the  shape  of  froth,  in  a  far  higher  degree 
than  even  soap  suds.  This  air,  by  means  of  the  saliva, 
reaches  the  stomach  with  the  food,  and  there  its  oxygen 
enters  into  combination,  while  its  nitrogen  is  given  out 
through  the  skin  and  lungs.  The  longer  digestion  con- 
tinues, that  is,  the  greater  the  resistance  offered  to  the 
solvent  action  by  the  food,  the  more  saliva,  and  conse- 
quently the  more  air  enters  the  stomach.  Rumination, 
in  certain  graminivorous  animals,  has  plainly  for  one 
object  a  renewed  and  repeated  introduction  of  oxygen  ; 
for  a  more  minute  mechanical  division  of  the  food,  only 
shortens  the  time  required  for  solution. 

The  unequal  quantities  of  air  which  reach  the  stom- 
ach with  the  saliva  in  different  classes  of  animals,  ex- 
plain the  accurate  observations  made  by  physiologists, 
who  have  established  beyond  all  doubt,  the  fact,  that 
animals  give  out  pure  nitrogen  through  the  skin  and 
lungs,  in  variable  quantity.  This  fact  is  so  much  the 
more  important,  as  it  furnishes  the  most  decisive  proof, 
that  the  nitrogen  of  the  air  is  applied  to  no  use  in  the 
animal  economy. 

The  fact,  that  nitrogen  is  given  out  by  the  skin 
and  lungs,  is  explained  by  the  property  which  animal 
membranes  possess  of  allowing  all  gases  to  permeate 
them,  a  property  which  can  be  shown  to  exist  by  the 
most  simple  experiments.  A  bladder,  filled  with  car- 
bonic acid,  nitrogen,  or  hydrogen  gas,  if  tightly  closed 
and  suspended  in  the  air,  loses  in  twenty-four  hours  the 
whole  of  the  enclosed  gas  ;  by  a  kind  of  exchange,  it 
passes  outwards  into  the  atmosphere,  while  its  place  is 
10 


HO  USE  OF  THE  SALIVA. 

occupied  by  atmospherical  air.  A  portion  of  intestine, 
a  stomach,  or  a  piece  of  skin  or  membrane,  acts  pre- 
cisely as  the  bladder,  if  filled  with  any  gas.  This  per- 
meability to  gases  is  a  mechanical  property,  common  to 
all  animal  tissues  ;  and  it  is  found  in  the  same  degree  in 
the  living  as  in  the  dead  tissue. 

It  is  known  that  in  cases  of  wounds  of  the  lungs  a 
peculiar  condition  is  produced,  in  which,  by  the  act  of 
inspiration,  not  only  oxygen  but  atmospherical  air,  with 
its  whole  amount  (|ths)  of  nitrogen,  penetrates  into 
the  cells  of  the  lungs.  This  air  is  carried  by  the 
circulation  to  every  part  of  the  body,  so  that  every  part 
is  inflated  or  puffed  up  with  the  air,  as  with  water  in 
dropsy.  This  state  ceases,  without  pain,  as  soon  as 
the  entrance  of  the  air  through  the  wound  is  stopped. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  oxygen  of  the  air,  thus 
accumulated  in  the  cellular  tissue,  enters  into  combina- 
tion, while  its  nitrogen  is  expired  through  the  skin  and 
lungs. 

Moreover,  it  is  well  known  that  in  many  graminivo- 
rous animals,  when  the  digestive  organs  have  been  over- 
loaded with  fresh  juicy  vegetables,  these  substances 
undergo  in  the  stomach  the  same  decomposition  as  they 
would  at  the  same  temperature  out  of  the  body.  They 
pass  into  fermentation  and  putrefaction,  whereby  so 
great  a  quantity  of  carbonic  acid  gas  and  of  inflamma- 
ble gas  is  generated,  that  these  organs  are  enormously 
distended,  sometimes  even  to  bursting.  From  the  struc- 
ture of  their  stomach  or  stomachs,  these  gases  cannot 
escape  through  the  oasophagus  ;  but  in  the  course  of  a 


GASES  PERMEATE  MEMBRANES.  1 1 1 

few  hours,  the  distended  body  of  the  animal  becomes 
less  swollen,  and  at  the  end  of  twenty-four  hours  no 
trace  of  the  gases  is  left.  (25) 

Finally,  if  we  consider  the  fatal  accidents  which  so 
frequently  occur  in  wine  countries  from  the  drinking 
of  what  is  called  feather-white  wine  (der  federweisse 
Wein),  we  can  no  longer  doubt  that  gases  of  every 
kind,  whether  soluble  or  insoluble  in  water,  possess  the 
property  of  permeating  animal  tissues,  as  water  pene- 
trates unsized  paper.  This  poisonous  wine  is  wine  still 
in  a  state  of  fermentation,  which  is  increased  by  the 
heat  of  the  stomach.  The  carbonic  acid  gas,  which 
is  disengaged,  penetrates  through  the  parietes  of  the 
stomach,  through  the  diaphragm,  and  through  all  the 
intervening  membranes,  into  the  air-cells  of  the  lungs, 
out  of  which  it  displaces  the  atmospherical  air.  The 
patient  dies  with  all  the  symptoms  of-  asphyxia  caused 
by  an  irrespirable  gas  ;  and  the  surest  proof  of  the 
presence  of  the  carbonic  acid  in  the  lungs  is  the  fact, 
that  the  inhalation  of  ammonia  (which  combines  with  it) 
is  recognised  as  the  best  antidote  against  this  kind  of 
poisoning. 

The  carbonic  acid  of  effervescing  wines  and  of  soda- 
water,  when  taken  into  the  stomach,  or  of  water  satur- 
ated with  this  gas,  administered  in  the  form  of  enema, 
is  given  out  again  through  the  skin  and  lungs  ;  and  this 
is  equally  true  of  the  nitrogen  which  is  introduced  into 
the  stomach  with  the  food  in  the  saliva. 

No  doubt  a  part  of  these  gases  may  enter  the  venous 
circulation  through  the  absorbent  and  lymphatic  vessels, 


112  SOURCES  OF  THE  NITROGEN 

and  thus  reach  the  lungs,  where  they  are  exhaled ;  but 
the  presence  of  membranes  offers  not  the  slightest  .ob- 
stacle to  their  passing  directly  into  the  cavity  of  the 
chest.  It  is,  in  fact,  difficult  to  suppose  that  the  absor- 
bents and  lymphatics  have  any  peculiar  tendency  to 
absorb  air,  nitrogen,  or  hydrogen,  and  convey  these 
gases  into  the  circulation,  since  the  intestines,  the  stom- 
ach, and  all  spaces  in  the  body  not  filled  with  solid  or 
liquid  matters,  contain  gases,  which  only  quit  their  po- 
sition when  their  volume  exceeds  a  certain  point,  and 
which,  consequently,  are  not  absorbed.  More  especial- 
ly in  reference  to  nitrogen,  we  must  suppose  that  it  is 
removed  from  the  stomach  by  some  more  direct  means, 
and  not  by  the  blood,  which  fluid  must  already,  in  pass- 
ing through  the  lungs,  have  become  saturated  with  that 
gas,  that  is,  must  have  absorbed  a  quantity  of  it,  propor- 
tioned to  its  solvent  power,  like  any  other  liquid.  By 
the  respiratory  motions  all  the  gases  which  fill  the  other- 
wise empty  spaces  of  the  body  are  urged  towards  the 
chest ;  for  by  the  motion  of  the  diaphragm  and  the  ex- 
pansion of  the  chest  a  partial  vacuum  is  produced,  in 
consequence  of  which  air  is  forced  into  the  chest  from 
all  sides  by  the  atmospheric  pressure.  The  equilibrium 
is,  no  doubt,  restored,  for  the  most  part,  through  the 
windpipe,  but  all  the  gases  in  the  body  must,  neverthe- 
less, receive  an  impulse  towards  the  chest.  In  birds 
and  tortoises  these  arrangements  are  reversed.  If  we 
assume  that  a  man  introduces  into  the  stomach  in  each 
minute  only  |th  of  a  cubic  inch  of  air  with  the  saliva, 
this  makes  in  eighteen  hours  135  cubic  inches;  and  if 


EXHALED  FROM  THE  LUNGS.  113 

^th  be  deducted  as  oxygen,  there  will  still  remain  108 
cubic  inches  of  nitrogen,  which  occupy  the  space  of 
3  Ibs.  of  water.  Now,  whatever  may  be  the  actual 
amount  of  the  nitrogen  thus  swallowed,  it  is  certain  that 
the  whole  of  it  is  given  out  again  by  the  mouth,  nose, 
and  skin  ;  and  when  we  consider  the  very  large  quanti- 
ty of  nitrogen  found  in  the  intestines  of  executed  crim- 
inals by  Magendie,  as  well  as  the  entire  absence  ot 
oxygen  in  these  organs  (26),  we  must  assume  that  air, 
and  consequently  nitrogen,  enters  the  stomach  by  re- 
sorption  through  the  skin,  and  is  afterwards  exhaled  by 
the  lungs. 

When  animals  are  made  to  respire  in  gases  contain- 
ing no  nitrogen,  more  of  that  gas  is  exhaled,  because  in 
this  case  the  nitrogen  within  the  body  acts  towards  the 
external  space  as  if  the  latter  were  a  vacuum.  (See 
Graham,  "  On  the  Diffusion  of  Gases.") 

The  differences  in  the  amount  of  expired  nitrogen  in 
different  classes  of  animals  are  thus  easily  explained  ; 
the  herbivora  swallow  with  the  saliva  more  air  than  the 
carnivora  ;  they  expire  more  nitrogen  than  the  latter, 
—  less  when  fasting  than  immediately  after  taking  food. 

13.  In  the  same  way  as  muscular  fibre,  when  sep- 
arated from  the  body,  communicates  the  state  of  de- 
composition existing  in  its  elements  to  the  peroxide  of 
nydrogen,  so  a  certain  product,  arising  by  means  of  the 
vital  process,  and  in  consequence  of  the  transposition 
of  the  elements  of  parts  of  the  stomach  and  of  the 
other  digestive  organs,  while  its  own  metamorphosis  is 
10* 


114  DIGESTIVE  PROCESS. 

accomplished  in  the  stomach,  acts  on  the  food.  The 
insoluble  matters  become  soluble,  —  they  are  digested. 

It  is  certainly  remarkable,  that  hard-boiled  white 
of  egg  or  fibrine,  when  rendered  soluble  by  certain 
liquids,  by  organic  acids,  or  weak  alkaline  solutions, 
retain  all  their  properties  except  the  solid  form  (cohe- 
sion) without  the  slightest  change.  Their  elementary 
molecules,  without  doubt,  assume  a  new  arrangement ; 
they  do  not,  however,  separate  into  two  or  more  groups, 
but  remain  united  together. 

The  very  same  thing  occurs  in  the  digestive  process  ; 
in  the  normal  state,  the  food  only  undergoes  a  change 
in  its  state  of  cohesion,  becoming  fluid  without  any 
other  change  of  properties. 

The  greatest  obstacle  to  forming  a  clear  conception 
of  the  nature  of  the  digestive  process,  which  is  here 
reckoned  among  those  chemical  metamorphoses  which 
have  been  called  fermentation  and  putrefaction,  consists 
in  our  involuntary  recollection  of  the  phenomena  which 
accompany  the  fermentation  of  sugar  and  of  animal  sub- 
stances (putrefaction),  which  phenomena  we  naturally 
associate  with  any  similar  change  ;  but  there  are  num- 
berless cases  in  which  a  complete  chemical  metamor- 
phosis of  the  elements  of  a  compound  occurs  without 
the  smallest  disengagement  of  gas,  and  it  is  chiefly  these 
which  must  be  borne  in  mind,  if  we  would  acquire  a 
clear  and  accurate  idea  of  the  chemical  notion  or  con- 
ception of  the  digestive  process. 

All  substances  which  can  arrest  the  phenomena  of 
fermentation  and  putrefaction  in  liquids,  also  arrest  di- 


NATURE  OF  FERMENT.  115 

gestion  when  taken  into  the  stomach.  The  action  of 
the  empyreumatic  matters  in  coffee  and  tobacco-smoke, 
of  creosote,  of  mercurials,  &c.,  &c.,  is,  on  this  ac- 
count, worthy  of  peculiar  attention  with  reference  to 
dietetics. 

The  identity  in  composition  of  the  chief  constituents 
of  blood,  and  of  the  nitrogenized  constituents  of  vege- 
table food,  has  certainly  furnished,  in  an  unexpected 
manner,  an  explanation  of  the  fact,  that  putrefying 
blood,  white  of  egg,  flesh,  and  cheese  produce  the 
same  effects  in  a  solution  of  sugar  as  yeast  or  ferment ; 
that  sugar,  in  contact  with  these  substances,  according 
to  the  particular  stage  of  decomposition  in  which  the 
putrefying  matters  may  be,  yields,  at  one  time,  alcohol 
and  carbonic  acid  ;  at  another,  lactic  acid,  mannite,  and 
mucilage.  The  explanation  is  simply  this,  that  ferment, 
or  yeast,  is  nothing  but  vegetable  fibrine,  albumen,  or 
caseine,  in  a  state  of  decomposition,  these  substances 
having  the  same  composition  with  the  constituents  of 
flesh,  blood,  or  cheese.  The  putrefaction  of  these 
animal  matters  is  a  process  identical  with  the  metamor- 
phosis of  the  vegetable  matters  identical  with  them  ;  it 
is  a  separation  or  splitting  up  into  new  and  less  complex 
compounds.  And  if  we  consider  the  transformation  of 
the  elements  of  the  animal  body  (the  waste  of  matter 
in  animals)  as  a  chemical  process,  which  goes  on  under 
the  influence  of  the  vital  force,  then  the  putrefaction  of 
animal  matters  out  of  the  body  is  a  division  into  simpler 
compounds,  in  which  the  vital  force  takes  no  share. 
The  action  in  both  cases  is  the  same,  only  the  products 


116  COMPOSITION  OF  PROTEINE. 

differ.  The  practice  of  medicine  has  furnished  the  most 
beautiful  and  interesting  observations  on  the  action  of 
empyreumatic  substances,  such  as  wood,  vinegar,  creo- 
sote, &c.,  on  malignant  wounds  and  ulcers.  In  such  mor- 
bid phenomena  two  actions  are  going  on  together  ;  one 
metamorphosis,  which  strives  to  complete  itself  under  the 
influence  of  the  vital  force,  and  another,  independent  of 
that  force.  The  latter  is  a  chemical  process,  which  is 
entirely  suppressed  or  arrested  by  empyreumatic  sub- 
stances ;  and  this  effect  is  precisely  opposed  to  the 
poisonous  influence  exercised  on  the  organism  by  pu- 
trefying blood  when  introduced  into  a  fresh  wound. 

14.  The  formula  C48H36N6O14*  is  that  which  most 
accurately  expresses  the  composition  of  proteine,  or 
the  relative  proportions  of  the  organic  elements  in  the 
blood,  as  ascertained  by  analysis.  Albumen,  fibrine, 
and  caseine  contain  proteine  ;  caseine  contains,  besides, 
sulphur,  but  no  phosphorus  ;  albumen  and  fibrine  con- 
tain both  these  substances  chemically  combined,  —  the 
former  more  sulphur  than  the  latter.  We  cannot  directly 
ascertain  in  what  form  the  phosphorus  exists,  but  we 
have  decided  proof  that  the  sulphur  cannot  be  in  the 
oxidized  state.  All  these  substances,  when  heated 
with  a  moderately  strong  solution  of  potash,  yield  the 
sulphur  which  we  find  in  the  solution  as  sulphuret  of 
potassium  ;  and,  on  the  addition  of  an  acid,  it  is  given 
off  as  sulphuretted  hydrogen.  When  pure  fibrine,  or 
ordinary  albumen  is  dissolved  in  a  weak  solution  of 

*  For  the  method  of  converting  this  and  other  formulee  into  pro- 
portions per  cent,  see  Appendix. 


FIBRINE.  117 

potash,  and  acetate  of  lead  is  added  to  the  solution,  in 
such  proportion  that  the  whole  of  the  oxide  of  lead 
remains  dissolved  in  the  potash,  the  mixture,  if  heated 
to  the  boiling  point,  becomes  black  like  ink,  and  sul- 
phuret  of  lead  is  deposited  as  a  fine  black  powder. 

It  is  extremely  probable,  that  by  the  action  of  the 
alkali  the  sulphur  is  removed  as  sulphuretted  hydrogen, 
the  phosphorus  as  phosphoric  or  phosphorous  acid. 
Since,  in  this  case,  sulphur  and  phosphorus  are  elimina- 
ted on  the  one  hand,  and  oxygen  and  hydrogen  on  the 
other,  it  might  be  concluded,  that  fibrine  and  albumen, 
when  analyzed  with  their  sulphur  and  phosphorus,  would 
yield  a  larger  proportion  of  oxygen  and  hydrogen  than 
is  found  in  proteine.  But  this  cannot  be  shown  in  the 
analysis  ;  for  fibrine,  for  example,  has  been  found  to 
contain  0-36  per  cent,  of  sulphur.  Assuming,  then, 
that  this  sulphur  is  eliminated  by  the  alkali  in  combina- 
tion with  hydrogen,  proteine  would  yield  0'0225  per 
cent,  less  hydrogen  than  fibrine  ;  instead  of  the  mean 
amount  of  7*062  per  cent,  of  hydrogen,  the  proteine 
should  yield  7'04  per  cent.  In  like  manner,  by  the 
elimination  of  the  phosphorus  in  combination  with  oxy- 
gen, the  amount  of  oxygen  in  fibrine  would  be  reduced 
from  22-715  —  22-00  per  cent,  to  22-5  —  21-8  per 
cent,  in  proteine.  But  the  limits  of  error  in  our  analy- 
ses are,  on  an  average,  beyond  ^th  per  cent,  in  hydro- 
gen, and  beyond  T40ths  per  cent,  in  the  oxygen  ;  while 
in  the  supposed  case  the  difference  in  the  hydrogen 
would  not  be  greater  than  ^th  per  cent. 

Finally,  if  we  reflect,  that  the  elimination  of  oxygen 


118  COMPOSITION  OF  FIBRINE. 

and  hydrogen  with  the  sulphur  and  phosphorus  does 
not  exclude  the  addition  of  the  elements  of  water,  and 
if  we  assume  that  fibrine  and  albumen,  in  passing  into 
proteine,  do  combine  with  a  certain  quantity  of  water, 
an  occurrence  which  is  highly  probable,  we  shall  see, 
that  there  is  no  probability,  that  the  ultimate  analysis 
of  these  compounds  will  ever  enable  us  to  decide  such 
questions,  or  to  fix  the  chemical  view  of  the  relation 
of  proteine  to  albumen,  fibrine,  or  caseine,  farther  than 
has  been  done  above. 

Some  have  endeavoured  to  prove  the  existence  of 
unoxidized  phosphorus  in  albumen  and  fibrine  from  the 
formation  of  sulphuret  of  potassium  when  they  are 
acted  on  by  potash,  supposing  the  oxygen  of  the  pot- 
ash to  have  formed  phosphoric  acid  with  the  phospho- 
rus ;  but  caseine,  which  contains  no  phosphorus,  yields 
sulphuret  of  potassium,  just  like  the  other  substances  ; 
and  here  its  formation  cannot  be  accounted1  for,  unless 
we  admit  the  previous  production  of  sulphuretted  hy- 
drogen. In  the  mere  boiling  of  flesh,  for  the  purpose 
of  making  soup,  sulphuretted  hydrogen,  as  Chevreul 
has  shown,  is  disengaged. 

Moreover,  the  proportion  of  sulphur,  for  the  same 
amount  of  phosphorus,  is  not  the  same  in  fibrine  and 
albumen,  from  which  no  other  conclusion  can  be  drawn, 
but  that  the  formation  of  sulphuret  of  potassium  has  no 
relation  to  the  presence  of  phosphorus.  Sulphuret  of 
potassium  is  formed  from  caseine,  which  is  not  sup- 
posed to  contain  any  uncombined  phosphorus  ;  and  it 


COMPOSITION  OF  TISSUES.  119 

is    formed,    also,  from   albumen,   which   contains    only 
half  as  much  phosphorus  as  fibrine. 

Every  attempt  to  give  the  true  absolute  amount  of 
the  atoms  in  fibrine  and  albumen  in  a  rational  formula, 
in  which  the  sulphur  and  phosphorus  are  taken,  not  in 
fractions,  but  in  entire  equivalents,  must  be  fruitless, 
because  we  are  absolutely  unable  to  determine  with 
perfect  accuracy  the  exceedingly  minute  quantities  of 
sulphur  and  phosphorus  in  such  compounds  ;  and  be- 
cause a  variation  in  the  sulphur  or  phosphorus,  smaller 
in  extent  than  the  usual  limit  of  errors  of  observation, 
will  affect  the  number  of  atoms  of  carbon,  hydrogen, 
or  oxygen  to  the  extent  of  10  atoms  or  more. 

We  must  be  careful  not  to  deceive  ourselves  in  our 
expectations  of  what  chemical  analysis  can  do.  We 
know,  with  certainty,  that  the  numbers  representing 
the  relative  proportions  of  the  organic  elements  are  the 
same  in  albumen  and  fibrine,  and  hence  we  conclude 
that  they  have  the  same  composition.  This  conclusion 
is  not  affected  by  the  fact,  that  we  do  not  know  the 
absolute  number  of  the  atoms  of  their  elements,  which 
have  united  to  form  the  compound  atom. 

15.  A  formula  for  proteine  is  nothing  more  than 
the  nearest  and  most  exact  expression  in  equivalents, 
of  the  result  of  the  best  analyses  ;  it  is  a  fact  estab- 
lished so  far,  free  from  doubt,  and  this  alone  is,  for 
the  present,  valuable  to  us. 

If  we  reflect,  that  from  the  albumen  and  fibrine  of 
the  body  all  the  other  tissues  are  derived,  it  is  perfectly 
clear,  that  this  can  only  occur  in  two  ways.  Either 


120  DIFFERENCES  IN  COMPOSITION 

certain  elements  have  been  added  to,  or  removed  from, 
their  constituent  parts. 

If  we  now,  for  example,  look  for  an  analytical  ex- 
pression of  the  composition  of  cellular  tissue,  of  the 
tissues  yielding  gelatine,  of  tendons,  of  hair,  of  horn, 
&c.,  in  which  the  number  of  atoms  of  carbon  is  made 
invariably  the  same  as  in  albumen  and  fibrine,  we  can 
then  see,  at  the  first  glance,  in  what  way  the  proportion 
of  the  other  elements  has  been  altered  ;  but  this  in- 
cludes all  that  physiology  requires  in  order  to  obtain 
an  insight  into  the  true  nature  of  the  formative  and 
nutritive  processes  in  the  animal  body. 

From  the  researches  of  Mulder  and  Scherer  we  ob- 
tain the  following  empirical  formula  :  — 

Composition  of  organic  tissues. 

Albumen C48N6H36O14-f- P  +  S* 

Fibrine C48N6H36O14 +  P +  2S 

Caseine C48N6H36O14  -f  S 

Gelatinous  tissues,  tendons  .    . 


Hair,  horn C48N7H39O17 

Arterial  membrane C48N6H38O16 

The  composition  of  these  formulae  shows,  that  when 
proteine  passes  into  chondrine  (the  substance  of  the 
cartilages  of  the  ribs),  the  elements  of  water,  with 
oxygen,  have  been  added  to  it ;  while  in  the  formation 
of  the  serous  membranes,  nitrogen  also  has  entered  into 
combination. 

If  we  represent  the  formula  of  proteine,  C48N6H3(!O14 

*  The  quantities  of  sulphur  and  phosphorus  here  expressed  by 
S  and  P  are  not  equivalents,  but  only  give  the  relative  proportions 
of  these  two  elements  to  each  other,  as  found  by  analysis. 


OF  ORGANIC  TISSUES.  121 

by  Pr,  then  nitrogen,  hydrogen,  and  oxygen  have  been 
added  to  it  in  the  form  of  known  compounds,  and  in 
the  following  proportions,  in  forming  the  gelatinous  tis- 
sues, hair,  horn,  arterial  membrane,  &c. 

Proteine.  Ammonia.  Water.  Oxygen. 
Fibrine,  Albumen  ....     Pr 
Arterial  membrane    ...     Pr  .   .   .   .    -f-  2HO 

Chondrine Pr   .   .   .   .     + 4HO  + 2O- 

Hair,  horn Pr    -}-    NH3     ...    -f  3O. 

Gelatinous  tissues     .   .   .  2Pr  4.  3NH3  -f-    HO  -f  7O.* 

16.  From  this  general  statement  it  appears,  that  all 
the  tissues  of  the  body  contain,  for  the  same  amount 
of  carbon,  more  oxygen  than  the  constituents  of  blood. 
During  their  formation,  oxygen,  either  from  the  atmo- 
sphere or  from  the  elements  of  water,  has  been  added 
to  the  elements  of  proteine.  In  hair  and  gelatinous  mem- 
brane we  observe,  further,  an  excess  of  nitrogen  and  hy- 
drogen, and  that  in  the  proportions  to  form  ammonia. 

Chemists  are  not  yet  agreed  on  the  question,  in  what 
manner  the  elements  of  sulphate  of  potash  are  arranged  ; 
it  would  therefore  be  going  too  far,  were  they  to  pro- 
nounce arterial  membrane  a  hydrate  of  proteine,  chon- 
drine  a  hydrated  oxide  of  proteine,  and  hair  and  mem- 
branes compounds  of  ammonia  with  oxides  of  proteine. 

The  above  formulae  express  with  precision  the  differ- 
ences of  composition  in  the  chief  constituents  of  the 
animal  body  ;  they  show,  that  for  the  same  amount  of 
carbon  the  proportion  of  the  other  elements  varies,  and 
how  much  more  oxygen  or  nitrogen  one  compound  con- 
tains than  another. 

*  See  Note  XXVII. 
11 


122  GELATINE  CONTAINS  NO  PROTEINK 

17.  By  means  of  these  formulae  we  can  trace  the 
production  of  the  different  compounds  from  the  constit- 
uents of  blood  ;  but  the  explanation  of  their  production 
may  take  two  forms,  and  we  have  to  decide  which  of 
these  comes  nearest  to  the  truth. 

For  the  same  amount  of  carbon,  membranes  and  the 
tissues  which  yield  gelatine  contain  more  nitrogen,  oxy- 
gen, and  hydrogen,  than  proteine.  It  is  conceivable,  that 
they  are  formed  from  albumen  by  the  addition  of  oxygen, 
of  the  elements  of  water,  and  of  those  of  ammonia, 
accompanied  by  the  separation  of  sulphur  and  phos- 
phorus ;  at  all  events,  their  composition  is  entirely  dif- 
ferent from  that  of  the  chief  constituents  of  blood. 

The  action  of  caustic  alkalies  on  the  tissues  yielding 
gelatine  shows,  distinctly,  that  they  no  longer  contain 
proteine  ;  that  substance  cannot  in  any  way  be  obtained 
from  them  ;  and  all  the  products  formed  by  the  action 
of  alkalies  on  them  differ  entirely  from  those  produced 
by  the  compounds  of  proteine  in  the  same  circumstances. 
Whether  proteine  exist,  ready  formed,  in  fibrine,  albu- 
men, and  caseine,  or  not,  it  is  certain  that  their  elements, 
under  the  influence  of  the  alkali,  arrange  themselves  so 
as  to  form  proteine  ;  but  this  property  is  wanting  in  the 
elements  of  the  tissues  which  yield  gelatine. 

The  other,  and  perhaps  the  more  probable  explana- 
tion of  the  production  of  these  tissues  from  proteine, 
is  that  which  makes  it  dependent  on  a  separation  of 
carbon. 

If  we  assume  the  nitrogen  of  proteine  to  remain  en- 
tire in  the  gelatinous  tissue,'  then  the  composition  of  the 


4  ORIGIN  OF  GELATINE.  123 

latter,  calculated  on  6  equivalents  of  nitrogen,  might  be 
represented  by  the  formula,  C38N6H32O14.  This  formula 
approaches  most  closely  to  the  analysis  of  Scherer,  al- 
though it  is  not  an  exact  expression  of  his  results.  A 
formula  corresponding  more  perfectly  to  the  analyses,  is 
C32NSH27O12 ;  or,  calculated  according  to  Mulder's 
analysis,  CMN,H42O20.  * 

According  to  the  first  formula,  carbon  and  hydrogen 
have  been  separated  ;  according  to  the  two  last,  a  cer- 
tain proportion  of  all  the  elements  has  been  removed. 

18.  We  must  admit,  as  the  most  important  result  of 
the  study  of  the  composition  of  gelatinous  tissue,  and  as 
a  point  undeniably  established,  that,  although  formed 
from  compounds  of  proteine,  it  no  longer  belongs  to  the 
series  of  the  compounds  of  proteine.  Its  chemical 
characters  and  composition  justify  this  conclusion. 

No  fact  is  as  yet  opposed  to  the  law,  deduced  from 
observation,  that  nature  has  exclusively  destined  com- 
pounds of  proteine  for  the  production  of  blood. 

No  substance  analogous  to  the  tissues  yielding  gelatine 
is  found  in  vegetables.  The  gelatinous  substance  is  not 
a  compound  of  proteine  ;  it  contains  no  sulphur,  no 
phosphorus,  and  it  contains  more  nitrogen  or  less  car- 
bon than  proteine.  The  compounds  of  proteine,  under 
the  influence  of  the  vital  energy  of  the  organs  which 
form  the  blood,  assume  a  new  form,  but  are  not  altered 
in  composition  ;  while  these  organs,  as  far  as  our  expe- 

*  The  formula  C52N8H40O20,  adopted  by  Mulder,  gives,  when  re- 
duced to  100  parts,  too  little  nitrogen  to  be  considered  an  exact  ex- 
pression of  his  analyses. 


124  ORIGIN  OF  GELATINE.  , 

rience  reaches,  do  not  possess  the  power  of  producing 
compounds  of  proteine,  by  virtue  of  any  influence,  out 
of  substances  which  contain  no  proteine.  Animals 
which  were  fed  exclusively  with  gelatine,  the  most  high- 
ly nitrogenized  element  of  the  food  of  carnivora,  died 
with  the  symptoms  of  starvation  ;  in  short,  the  gelatin- 
ous tissues  are  incapable  of  conversion  into  blood. 

But  there  is  no  doubt  that  these  tissues  are  formed 
from  the  constituents  of  the  blood  ;  and  we  can  hardly 
avoid  entertaining  the  supposition,  that  the  fibrine  of 
venous  blood,  in  becoming  arterial  fibrine,  passes  through 
the  first  stage  of  conversion  into  gelatinous  tissue.  We 
cannot,  with  much  probability,  ascribe  to  membranes 
and  tendons  the  power  of  forming  themselves  out  of 
matters  brought  by  the  blood  ;  for  how  could  any  matter 
become  a  portion  of  cellular  tissue,  for  example,  by 
virtue  of  a  force  which  has  as  yet  no  organ  ?  An  al- 
ready existing  cell  may  possess  the  power  of  reproduc- 
ing or  of  multiplying  itself,  but  in  both  cases  the  pres- 
ence of  a  substance  identical  in  composition  with  cellu- 
lar tissue  is  essential.  Such  'matters  are  formed  in  the 
organism,  and  nothing  can  be  better  fitted  for  their  pro- 
duction than  the  substance  of  the  cells  and  membranes 
which  exist  in  animal  food,  and  become  soluble  in  the 
stomach  during  digestion,  or  which  are  taken  by  man  in 
a  soluble  form. 

19.  In  the  following  pages  I  offer  to  the  reader  an 
attempt  to  develope  analytically  the  principal  metamor- 
phoses which  occur  in  the  animal  body  ;  and,  to  pre- 
clude all  misapprehension,  I  do  this  with  a  distinct  pro- 


METAMORPHOSIS  OF  TISSUES.  125 


test  against  all  conclusions  and  deductions  which 
now  or  at  any  subsequent  period  be  derived  from  it  in 
opposition  to  the  views  developed  in  the  preceding  part 
of  this  work,  with  which  it  has  no  manner  of  connexion. 
The  results  here  to  be  described  have  surprised  me  no 
less  than  they  will  others,  and  have  excited  in  my  mind 
the  same  doubts  as  others  will  conceive  ;  but  they  are 
not  the  creations  of  fancy,  and  I  give  them  because  I 
entertain  the  deep  conviction,  that  the  method  which  has 
led  to  them  is  the  only  one  by  which  we  can  hope  to 
acquire  insight  into  the  nature  of  the  organic  processes. 

The  numberless  qualitative  investigations  of  animal 
matters  which  are  made  are  equally  worthless  for  phys- 
iology and  for  chemistry,  so  long  as  they  are  not  insti- 
tuted with  a  well-defined  object,  or  to  answer  a  ques- 
tion clearly  put. 

If  we  take  the  letters  of  a  sentence  which  we  wish 
to  decipher,  and  place  them  in  a  line,  we  advance  not 
a  step  towards  tl^  discovery  of  their  meaning.  To 
resolve  an  enigma,  we  must  have  a  perfectly  clear  con- 
ception of  the  problem.  There  are  many  ways  to  the 
highest  pinnacle  of  a  mountain  ;  but  those  only  can 
hope  to  reach  it  who  keep  the  summit  constantly  in 
view.  All  our  labor  and  all  our  efforts,  if  we  strive  to 
attain  it  through  a  morass,  only  serve  to  cover  us  more 
completely  with  mud  ;  our  progress  is  impeded  by  dif- 
ficulties of  our  own  creation,  and  at  last  even  the  great- 
est strength  must  give  way  when  so  absurdly  wasted. 

20.  If  it  be  true,  that  all  parts  of  the  body  are  form- 
ed and  developed  from  the  blood  or  the  constituents  of 
11  * 


126  THE  SECRETIONS  CONTAIN 

the  blood,  that  the  existing  organs  at  every  moment  of 
life  are  transformed  into  new  compounds  under  the  in- 
fluence of  the  oxygen  introduced  in  the  blood,  then  the 
animal  secretions  must  of  necessity  contain  the  products 
of  the  metamorphosis  of  the  tissues. 

21.  If  it  be  further  true,  that  the  urine  contains  those 
products  of  metamorphosis  which  contain  the  most  ni- 
trogen, and  the  bile  those  which  are  richest  in  carbon, 
from  all  the  tissues  which  in  the  vital  process  have  been 
transformed  into  unorganized  compounds,  it  is  clear  that 
the  elements  of  the  bile  and  of  the  urine,  added  togeth- 
er, must  be  equal,   in  the  relative  proportion  of  these 
elements  to  the  composition  of  the  blood. 

22.  The  organs  are  formed  from  the  blood,  and  con- 
tain the  elements    of  the   blood  ;  they   become   trans- 
formed into  new  compounds,  with  the   addition  only  of 
oxygen  and  of  water.     Hence,  the  relative  proportion 
of  carbon  and  nitrogen  must  be  the   same  as  in   the 
blood.  * 

If  then  we  subtract  from  the  composition  of  blood 
the  elements  of  the  urine,  then  the  remainder,  deduct- 
ing the  oxygen  and  water  which  have  been  added,  must 
give  the  composition  of  the  bile. 

Or  if  from  the  elements  of  the  blood,  we  subtract 
the  elements  of  the  bile,  the  remainder  must  give  the 
composition  of  urate  of  ammonia,  or  of  urea  and  car- 
bonic acid. 

It  will  surely  appear  remarkable,  that  this  manner  of 
viewing  the  subject  has  led  to  the  true  formula  of  bile, 
or,  to  speak  more  accurately,  to  the  most  correct  em- 


ALL  THE  ELEMENTS  OF  THE  BLOOD.  127 

pirical  expression  of  its  composition  ;  and  has  furnished 
the  key  to  its  metamorphosis,  under  the  influence  of 
acids  and  alkalies,  which  had  previously  been  sought  for 
in  vain. 

23.  When  fresh  drawn  blood  is  made  to  trickle  over 
a  plate  of  silver,  heated  to   140°,  it  dries  to  a   red, 
varnish-like  matter,  easily  reduced  to  powder.     Muscu- 
lar flesh,  free  from  fat,  if  dried  first  in  a  gentle  heat, 
and  then  at  212°,  yields  a  brown,  pulverizable  mass. 

The  analyses  of  PLAYFAIR  and  BOECKMANN  (se) 
give  for  flesh  (fibrine,  albumen,  cellular  tissue,  and 
nerves)  and  for  blood,  as  the  most  exact  expression  of 
their  numerical  results,  one  and  the  same  formula, 
namely,  C48N6H39O16.  This  may  be  called  the  empir- 
ical formula  of  blood. 

24.  The  chief  constituent  of  bile,  according  to  the 
researches   of  DEMARCAY,   is   a  compound,   analogous 
to  soaps,  of  soda  with  a  peculiar  substance,  which  has 
been   named    choleic  acid.     This    acid  is   obtained  in 
combination  with  oxide  of  lead,  when  bile,  purified  by 
means  of  alcohol  from  all  matters  insoluble  in  that  men- 
struum, is  mixed  with  acetate  of  lead. 

Choleic  acid  is  resolved,  by  the  action  of  muriatic 
acid,  into  ammonia,  taurine,  and  a  new  acid,  choloidic 
acid,  which  contains  no  nitrogen. 

When  boiled  with  caustic  potash,  choleic  acid  is  re- 
solved into  carbonic  acid,  ammonia,  and  another  new 
acid,  cholic  acid  (distinct  from  the  cholic  acid  of 
Gmelin). 

Now  it  is  clear,  that  the  true  formula  of  choleic  acid 


128  METAMORPHOSES  OF  BILE. 

must  include  the  analytical  expression  of  these  modes 
of  decomposition  ;  in  other  words,  that  it  must  enable 
us  to  show  that  the  composition  of  the  products  derived 
from  it  is  related,  in  a  clear  and  simple  manner,  to  the 
composition  of  the  acid  itself.  This  is  the  only  satis- 
factory test  of  a  formula  ;  and  the  analytical  expression 
thus  obtained,  loses  nothing  of  its  truth  or  value,  if  it 
should  appear,  as  the  researches  of  BERZELIUS  seem 
to  show,  that  choleic  and  choloidic  acids  are  mixtures 
of  different  compounds  ;  for  the  relative  proportions  of 
the  elements  cannot  in  any  way  be  altered  by  this  cir- 
cumstance. 

25.  In  order  to  develope  the  metamorphoses  which 
choleic  acid   suffers  under  the  influence  of  acids  and 
alkalies,  the  following  formula  alone  can  be  adopted  as 
the  empirical  expression  of  the  results  of  its  analysis. 
Formula  of  choleic  acid  :  C76N2H66O22.  (29) 

J  repeat,  that  this  formula  may  express  the  composi- 
tion of  one,  or  of  two  or  more  compounds  ;  no  matter 
of  how  many  compounds  the  so-called  choleic  acid 
may  be  made  up,  the  above  formula  represents  the  rela- 
tive proportions  of  all  their  elements  taken  together. 

If  now  we  subtract  from  the  elements  of  choleic  acid, 
the  products  formed  by  the  action  of  muriatic  acid, 
namely,  ammonia  and  taurine,  we  obtain  the  empirical 
formula  of  choloidic  acid.  Thus  ;  from  the 

Formula  of  choleic  acid C76N2H66O22 

subtract  — 
1  atom  taurine    .  .  .  C4NH7O10  >        r    N  H    O 

1  •  -VTTT  /    ==    ^4    -^2**  10^10 

1  eq.  ammonia    .  .  .       NH3        $ 
There  remains  the  formula  of  cho- 
loidic acid =  C72     HS6O12  (30) 


METAMORPHOSES  OF  BILE.  129 

26.  Again,  if  from  the  formula  of  choleic  acid  we 
subtract  the  elements  of  urea  and  2  atoms  of  water, 
(=2  eq.  carbonic  acid  and  2  eq.  ammonia,)  there  will 
remain   the   formula   and  composition  of  cholic  acid. 
Thus  ;  from  the 

Formula  of  choleic  acid =  C76N2H66O22 

subtract  — 

2  eq.  carbonic  acid  =  C2          O4  >       r-    ivr  u    r» 
2  eq.  ammonia          =       N2H6      j  =  C«  N»"«  °« 

Remains  the  formula  of  cholic 
acid    =  C74     H60018  (31) 

When  we  consider  the  very  close  coincidence  be- 
tween these  formulae  and  the  actual  results  of  analysis 
(see  Appendix,  29,  30,  31),  it  is  scarcely  possible  to 
doubt,  that  the  formula  above  adopted  for  choleic  acid 
expresses,  as  accurately  as  is  to  be  expected  in  the 
analysis  of  such  compounds,  the  relative  proportion  of 
its  elements,  no  matter  in  how  many  different  forms 
they  may  be  united  to  produce  that  acid. 

27.  Let  us  now  add  the  half  of  the  numbers  which 
represent  the  formula  of  choleic  acid,  to  the   elements 
of  the   urine  of  serpents,  —  that  is,  to  neutral  urate  of 
ammonia,  as  follows  : 

£  the  formula  of  choleic  acid    .  .  .  .  =  C38N  H33OU 

Add  to  this  — 

1  eq.  uric  acid  .  .  .  =  C10N4H4O6  > p,    N  H    n 

1  eq.  ammonia  .  .  .  =        N  H3       5  ~ 

The  sum  is =  C48N6H40O17 

28.  But  this  last  formula  expresses  the  composition 
of  blood,  with  the  addition  of  1  eq.  oxygen  and  1  eq. 
water. 


130  RELATION  OF  BILE  TO  FIBRINE. 

8N6H39O1 
HO 


Formula  of  blood 

1  eq.  water    .......  =  HO  ) 

1  eq.  oxygen    ......  =     O  \ 


The  sum  is =  C48N6H40O17 

29.  If,  moreover,  we  add  to  the  elements  of  pro- 
teine  those  of  3  eq.  water,  we  obtain,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  1  eq.  hydrogen,  exactly  the  same  formula. 

Formula  of  proteine =  C48N6H36O14 

Add  3  eq.  of  water     .  .  ==  H3  O3 

The  sum  is C48N6H39O17 

differing  only  by  1  eq.  of  hydrogen  from  the  formula 
above  obtained  by  adding  together  choleic  acid  and 
urate  of  ammonia. 

30.  If,   then,   we  consider   choleic  acid   and  urate 
of  ammonia  the  products  of  the  transformation  of  mus- 
cular fibre,   since    no  other  tissue  in  the    body    con- 
tains proteine  (for  albumen  passes   into  tissues,  without 
our  being  able  to  say,  that  in  the  vital  process  it  is  di- 
rectly resolved  into  choleic  acid,  and  urate  of  ammonia), 
there  exist  in  fibrine,  with  the  addition  of  the  elements 
of  water,   all  the    elements  essential   to   this  metamor- 
phosis ;  and,  except  the  sulphur  and  phosphorus,  both 
of  which  are  probably  oxidized,  no  element  is  separated. 

This  form  of  metamorphosis  is  applicable  to  the  vital 
transformations  in  the  lower  classes  of  amphibia,  and 
perhaps  in  worms  and  insects.  In  the  higher  classes 
of  animals  the  uric  acid  disappears  in  the  urine,  and  is 
replaced  by  urea. 

The  disappearance  of  uric  acid  and  the  production 
of  urea  plainly  stand  in  a  very  close  relation  to  the 
amount  of  oxygen  absorbed  in  respiration,  and  to  the 


OXIDATION  OF  URIC  ACID.  131 

quantity  of  water  consumed  by  different  animals  in  a 
given  time. 

When  uric  acid  is  subjected  to  the  action  of  oxygen, 
it  is  first  resolved,  as  is  well  known,  into  alloxan  and 
urea.  (32)  A  new  supply  of  oxygen  acting  on  the 
alloxan  causes  it  to  resolve  itself  either  into  oxalic  acid 
and  urea,  into  oxaluric  and  parabanic  acids,  (33)  or  into 
carbonic  acid  and  urea. 

31.  In  the  so-called  mulberry  calculi  we  find  oxa- 
late  of  lime,  in  other  calculi  urate  of  ammonia,  and 
always  in  persons,  in  whom,  from  want  of  exercise 
and  labor,  or  from  other  causes,  the  supply  of  oxy- 
gen has  been  diminished.  Calculi  containing  uric 
acid  or  oxalic  acid  are  never  found  in  phthisical 
patients  ;  and  it  is  a  common  occurrence  in  France, 
among  patients  suffering  from  calculous  complaints, 
that  when  they  go  to  the  country,  where  they  take 
more  exercise,  the  compounds  of  uric  acid,  which 
were  deposited  in  the  bladder  during  their  residence  in 
town,  are  succeeded  by  oxalates  (mulberry  calculus), 
in  consequence  of  the  increased  supply  of  oxygen. 
With  a  still  greater  supply  of  oxygen  they  would  have 
yielded,  in  healthy  subjects,  only  the  last  product  of 
the  oxidation  of  uric  acid,  namely,  carbonic  acid  and 
urea. 

An  erroneous  interpretation  of  the  undeniable  fact, 
that  all  substances  incapable  of  further  use  in  the  or- 
ganism, are  separated  by  the  kidneys  and  expelled  from 
the  body  in  the  urine,  altered  or  unaltered,  has  led 
practical  medical  men  to  the  idea,  that  the  food,  and 


132  UKIC  ACID  AND  UREA  DERIVED 

especially  nitrogenized  food,  may  have  a  direct  influence 
on  the  formation  of  urinary  calculi.  There  are  no 
reasons  which  support  this  opinion,  while  those  opposed 
to  it  are  innumerable.  It  is  possible  that  there  may  be 
taken,  in  the  food,  a  number  of  matters  changed  by  the 
culinary  art,  which,  as  being  no  longer  adapted  to  the 
formation  of  blood,  are  expelled  in  the  urine,  more  or 
less  altered  by  the  respiratory  process.  But  roasting 
and  boiling  alter  in  no  way  the  composition  of  animal 
food.  (34) 

Boiled  and  roasted  flesh  is  converted  at  once  into 
blood  ;  while  the  uric  acid  and  urea  are  derived  from 
the  metamorphosed  tissues.  The  quantity  of  these 
products  increases  with  the  rapidity  of  transformation 
in  a  given  time,  but  bears  no  proportion  to  the  amount 
of  food  taken  in  the  same  period.  In  a  starving  man, 
who  is  any  way  compelled  to  undergo  severe  and  con- 
tinued exertion,  more  urea  is  secreted  than  in  the  most 
highly  fed  individual,  if  in  a  state  of  rest..  In  fevers 
and  during  rapid  emaciation  the  urine  contains  more 
urea  than  in  the  state  of  health.  (PR OUT.) 

32.  In  the  same  way,  therefore,  as  the  hippuric  acid, 
present  in  the  urine  of  the  horse  when  at  rest,  is  con- 
verted into  benzoate  of  ammonia  and  carbonic  acid  as 
soon  as  the  animal  is  compelled  to  labor,  so  the  uric 
acid  disappears  in  the  urine  of  man,  when  he  receives, 
through  the  skin  and  lungs,  a  quantity  of  oxygen  suffi- 
cient to  oxidize  the  products  of  the  transformation  of 
the  tissues.  The  use  of  wine  and  fat,  which  are  only 


RELATION  OF  BLOOD  TO  URINE.  133 

so  far  altered  in  the  organism  that  they  combine  with 
oxygen,  has  a  marked  influence  on  the  formation  of 
uric  acid.  The  urine,  after  fat  food  has  been  taken, 
is  turbid,  and  deposits  minute  crystals  of  uric  acid. 
(PROUT.)  The  same  thing  is  observed  after  the  use 
of  wines  in  which  the  alkali  necessary  to  retain  the  uric 
acid  in  solution  is  wanting,  but  never  from  the  use  of 
Rhenish  wines,  which  contain  so  much  tartar. 

In  animals  which  drink  much  water,  by  means  of 
which  the  sparingly  soluble  uric  acid  is  kept  dissolved, 
so  that  the  inspired  oxygen  can  act  on  it,  no  uric  acid 
is  found  in  the  urine,  but  only  urea.  In  birds,  which 
seldom  drink,  uric  acid  predominates. 

If  to  1  atom  of  uric  acid  we  add  6  atoms  of  oxygen 
and  4  atoms  of  water,  it  resolves  itself  into  urea  and 
carbonic  acid  : 

1  at.  uric  acid  C10N4H4O6  1 

4  at.  water     >  }>=  J  2  »'•  urea C4  N4H8O4, 

6  at.  oxygen  $ H4O10j        t  6  at.  carbonic  acid  C6  Oi2 

C10N4H8016  C10N4H8016 

33.  The  urine  of  the  herbivora  contains  no  uric  acid, 
but  ammonia,  urea,  and  hippuric  or  benzoic  acid.  By 
the  addition  of  9  atoms  of  oxygen  to  the  empirical  for- 
mula of  their  blood  multiplied  by  5,  we  obtain  the  ele- 
ments of  6  at.  of  hippuric  acid,  9  at.  of  urea,  3  at.  of 
choleic  acid,  3  at.  of  water,  and  3  at.  of  ammonia  ;  or, 
if  we  suppose  45  atoms  of  oxygen  to  be  added  to  the 
blood  during  its  metamorphosis,  then  we  obtain  6  at.  of 
benzoic  acid,  13|  at.  of  urea,  3  at.  of  choleic  acid,  15 
at.  of  carbonic  acid,  and  12  at.  of  water. 


134  RELATION  OF  PROTEINE  TO  ALLANTOINE. 

5  (G48N6H39015)  +  03  =  C240N30H196084 
f  6  at.  hippuric  acid,  6  (C18N  H8  O6  )  =  C108N6  H48  O30 

9  at.  urea, 9  (C2  N2H4  O2  )  =  C18  N18H36  O18 

=  <(  3  at.  choleic  acid,     3  (C38N  H33On)  =  C114N3  H99  O33 

3  at.  ammonia,    .  .  3  (      N  H3        )  =         N3  H9 
t'$  at.  water,    ....  3  (          H    O  )  =  H3   O3 

The  sum  is C240N30H196O84 

or,— 

5  (C48NCH3901S)  +  046  =  C240N30H1950120 
f  6  at.  benzoic  acid,     6  (C14    H5  O3  )  =  C84       H30  O18 

I  27  at.  urea, 27  (C    NH2  O  )  =  C27  N27HM  O27 

= J    3  at.  choleic  acid,      3  (C38NH33OU)  =  C114N3  H99  O33 

15  at.  carbonic  acid,  15  (C  O2  )  =  C15  O30 

L12  at.  water,    ...    12  (         H    O   )=  H12  O12 


34.  Lastly,  let  us  follow  the   metamorphosis   of  the 
tissues  in  the  foetal  calf,  considering  the  proteine  furnish- 
ed in  the  blood  of  the  mother  as   the   substance  which 
undergoes   or  has  undergone  a  transformation  ;  it  will 
appear  that  2  at.   of  proteine,  without  the  addition  of 
oxygen  or  any  other  foreign  element,  except  2  at.  of 
water,  contain  the  elements   of  6  at.  of  allantoine  and  1 
at.  of  choloidic  acid,   (meconium  ?) 

2.  at  proteine=2  (C48N6H36O14)+2  at.  water=  2  HO  ==  C96N12H74O30 
_J  6  at.  allantoine,     6  (C4N2H3O3)  =  C24N12H18O18 
"  \\  at.  choloidic  acid  (  =  C72       H56O12 

C96N12H74030 

35.  But  the  elements  of  the  six  atoms  of  allantoine 
in  the  last  equation  correspond  exactly  to  the  elements 
of  2  at.  of  uric  acid,  2  at.  of  urea,  and  2  at.  of  water. 

!2  at.  uric  acid  C20N8  H8  O12 
2  at.  urea  .C4N4H8O4 
2  at.  water  H2  O2 

C24N12H18O18 
The  relations   of  allantoine,   which  is  found  in  the 


RELATION  OF  PROTEINE  TO  GELATINE.  135 

urine  of  the  foetal  calf,  to  the  nitrogenized  constituents 
of  the  urine  in  animals  which  respire,  are,  as  may  be 
seen  by  comparing  the  above  formulae,  such  as  cannot 
be  overlooked  or  doubted.  Allantoine  contains  the 
elements  of  uric  acid  and  urea,  —  that  is,  of  the  nitro- 
genized products  of  the  transformation  of  the  com- 
pounds of  proteine. 

36.  Further,  if  to  the  formula  of  proteine,  multiplied 
by  3,  we  add  the  elements  of  4  at.  of  water,  and  if  we 
deduct  from  the  sum  of  all  the  elements  half  of  the  ele- 
ments of  choloidic  acid,  there  remains  a  formula  which 
expresses   very   nearly   the    composition    of    gelatine. 
From 

3  (C48N6H36014)  +  4  HO . . .  =  C144N18H112046 
Subtract  £  at.  choloidic  acid  =  C36        H28  O6 

There  remain C108N18H  84O40  (35) 

37.  Subtracting   from   this   formula   of  gelatine  the 
elements  of  2  at.  of  proteine,  there  remain  the  elements 
of  urea,  uric  acid,  and  water,  or  of  3  at.   of  allantoine 
and  3  at.  of  water.     Thus,  — 

Formula  of  gelatine  (Mulder)  C108N18H84O4o 
Subtract  2  at.  proteine    ....  C  96N12H72O28 
There  remain C  12N  6H12O12  = 

3  at.  allantoine  C12N6H9  O9 
3  at.  water    .  .  H3  O3 


!1  at.  uric  acid  C10N4H4  O6  J  f 
1  at.  urea  .  .  C2  N2H4  O2  >  =  < 
4  at.  water  H4  O4  )  (• 


C12N6H12012  C12N6H12012 

38.   The  numerical  proportions  calculated  from  the 

above  formula  differ  from  those  actually  obtained  in  the 

analyses   of  MULDER  and   SCHERER  in  this,  that  the 

latter  indicate  somewhat  less   of  nitrogen  in  gelatine  ; 


1  36  ORIGIN  OF  GELATINE. 

but  if  we  assume  the  formula  to  be  correct,  it  then  ap- 
pears, from  the  statement  just  given,  that  the  elements 
of  two  atoms  of  proteine,  plus  the  nitrogenized  products 
of  the  transformation  of  a  third  atom  of  proteine  (uric 
acid  and  urea)  and  water  ;  or  three  atoms  of  proteine, 
minus  the  elements  of  a  compound  containing  no  nitro- 
gen, which  actually  occurs  as  one  of  the  products  of 
the  transformation  of  choleic  acid,  yield  in  both  cases  a 
formula  closely  approaching  to  the  composition  of  gela- 
tinous tissues.  We  must,  however,  attach  to  such  for- 
mulae, and  to  the  considerations  arising  from  them,  no 
more  importance  than  justly  belongs  to  them.  I  would 
constantly  remind  the  reader,  that  their  use  is  to  serve 
as  points  of  connexion,  which  may  enable  us  to  acquire 
more  accurate  views  as  to  the  production  and  decompo- 
sition of  those  compounds  which  form  the  animal  tissues. 
They  are  the  first  attempts  to  discover  the  path  which 
we  must  follow  in  order  to  attain  the  object  of  our  re- 
searches ;  and  this  object,  the  goal  we  strive  to  reach, 
is,  and  must  be,  attainable. 

The  experience  of  all  those,  who  have  occupied 
themselves  with  researches  into  natural  phenomena  leads 
to  this  general  result,  that  these  phenomena  are  caused, 
or  produced,  by  means  far  more  simple  than  was  previ- 
ously supposed,  or  than  we  even  now  imagine  ;  and  it  is 
precisely  their  simplicity,  which  should  most  powerfully 
excite  our  wonder  and  admiration. 

Gelatinous  tissue  is  formed  from  blood,  from  com- 
pounds of  proteine.  It  may  be  produced  by  the  addi- 
tion, to  the  elements  of  proteine,  of  allantoine  and 


ORIGIN  OF  THE  BILE.  137 

water,  or  of  water,  urea,  and  uric  acid  ;  or  by  the  sep- 
aration from  the  elements  of  proteine  of  a  compound 
containing  no  nitrogen.  The  solution  of  such  problems 
becomes  less  difficult,  when  the  problem  to  be  solved, 
the  question  to  be  answered,  is  matured  and  clearly  put. 
Every  experimental  decision  of  any  such  question  in  the 
negative  forms  the  starting-point  of  a  new  question,  the 
solution  of  which,  when  obtained,  is  the  necessary  con- 
sequence of  our  having  put  the  first  question. 

39.  In  the  foregoing  sections,  no  other  constituent  of 
the  bile,  besides  choleic  acid,  has  been  brought  into  the 
calculation  ;  because  it  alone  is  known  with  certainty  to 
contain  nitrogen.  Now,  if  it  be  admitted  that  its  nitro- 
gen is  derived  from  the  metamorphosed  tissues,  it  is  not 
improbable  that  the  carbon,  and  other  elements  which 
it  contains,  are  derived  from  the  same  source. 

There  cannot  be  the  smallest  doubt,  that  in  the  carni- 
vora,  the  constituents  of  the  urine  and  the  bile  are  de- 
rived from  the  transformation  of  compounds  of  proteine  ; 
for,  except  fat,  they  consume  no  food  but  such  as  con- 
tains proteine,  or  has  been  formed  from  that  substance. 
Their  food  is  identical  with  their  blood  ;  and  it  is  a  mat- 
ter of  indifference  which  of  the  two  we  select  as  the 
starting-point  of  the  chemical  development  of  the  vital 
metamorphoses. 

There  can  be  no  greater  contradiction,  with  regard 
to  the  nutritive  process,  than  to  suppose  that  the  nitro- 
gen of  the  food  can  pass  into  the  urine  as  urea,  without 
having  previously  become  part  of  an  organized  tissue  ; 
for  albumen,  the  only  constituent  of  blood,  which,  from 
12* 


138  ORIGIN  OF  THE  BILE. 

its  amount,  ought  to  be  taken  into  consideration,  suffers 
not  the  slightest  change  in  passing  through  the  liver  or 
kidneys  ;  we  find  it  in  every  part  of  the  body  with  the 
same  appearance  and  the  same  properties.  These  or- 
gans cannot  be  adapted  for  the  alteration  or  decomposi- 
tion of  the  substance  from  which  all  the  other  organs  of 
the  body  are  to  be  formed. 

40.  From  the  characters  of  chyle  and  lymph,  it  ap- 
pears with  certainty,  that  the  soluble  parts  of  the  food  or 
of  the  chyme  acquire  the  form  of. albumen.  Hard- 
boiled  white  of  egg,  boiled  or  coagulated  fibrine,  which 
have  again  become  soluble  in  the  stomach,  but  have  lost 
their  coagulability  by  the  action  of  air  or  heat,  recover 
these  properties  by  degrees.  In  the  chyle,  the  acid  re- 
action of  the  chyme  has  already  passed  into  the  weak 
alkaline  reaction  of  the  blood  ;  and  the  chyle,  when, 
after  passing  through  the  mesenteric  glands,  it  has 
reached  the  thoracic  duct,  contains  albumen  coagulable 
by  heat ;  and,  when  left  to  itself,  deposits  fibrine.  All 
the  compounds  of  proteine,  absorbed  during  the  passage 
of  the  chyme  through  the  intestinal  canal,  take  the  form 
of  albumen,  which,  as  the  results  of  incubation  in  the 
fowl's  egg  testify,  contains  the  fundamental  elements  of 
all  organized  tissues,  with  the  exception  of  iron,  which 
is  obtained  from  other  sources. 

Practical  medicine  has  long  ago  answered  the  ques- 
tion, what  becomes  in  man  of  the  compounds  of  prote- 
ine taken  in  excess,  what  change  is  undergone  by  the 
superabundant  nitrogenized  food  ?  The  blood-vessels 
are  distended  with  excess  of  blood,  the  other  vessels 


ORIGIN  OF  THE  BILE.  139 

with  excess  of  their  fluids,  and  if  the  too  great  supply 
of  food  be  kept  up,  and  the  blood,  or  other  fluids 
adapted  for  forming  blood,  be  not  applied  to  their  natu- 
ral purposes,  if  the  soluble  matters  be  not  taken  up  by 
the  proper  organs,  various  gases  are  disengaged,  as  in 
processes  of  putrefaction,  the  excrements  assume  an  al- 
tered quality  in  color,  smell,  &c.  Should  the  fluids  in 
the  absorbent  and  lymphatic  vessels  undergo  a  similar 
decomposition,  this  is  immediately  visible  in  the  blood, 
and  the  nutritive  process  then  assumes  new  forms. 

41.  No  one  of  all  these  appearances  should  occur, 
if  the  liver  and  kidneys  were  capable  of  effecting  the 
resolution  of  the  superabundant  compounds  of  proteine 
into  urea,  uric  acid,  and  bile.  All  the  observations 
which  have  been  made  in  reference  to  the  influence  of 
nitrogenized  food  on  the  composition  of  the  urine,  have 
failed  entirely  to  demonstrate  the  existence  of  any  direct 
influence  of  the  kind  ;  for  the  phenomena  are  suscepti- 
ble of  another  and  a  far  more  simple  interpretation,  if, 
along  with  the  food,  we  consider  the  mode  of  life  and 
habits  of  the  individuals  who  have  been  the  subjects  of 
investigation.  Gravel  and  calculus  occur  in  persons 
who  use  very  little  animal  food.  Concretions  of  uric 
acid  have  never  yet  been  observed  in  carnivorous  mam- 
malia, living  in  the  wild  state,*  and  among  nations 
which  live  entirely  on  flesh,  deposits  of  uric  acid  con- 

*  The  occurrence  of  urate  of  ammonia  in  a  concretion  found  in  a 
dog,  which  was  examined  by  Lassaigne,  is  to  be  doubted,  unless 
Lassaigne  extracted  it  himself  from  the  bladder  of  the  animal.  —  L. 


140  ORIGIN  OF  BILE 

cretions  in  the  limbs  or  in  the  bladder  are  utterly  un- 
known. 4 

42.  That  which  must  be  viewed  as   an  undeniable 
truth  in  regard  to  the  origin  of  the  bile,  or,  more  ac- 
curately  speaking,   of  choleic    acid    in    the  carnivora, 
cannot  hold  in  regard  to  all  the  constituents  of  the  bile 
secreted   by  the   liver  in   the  herbivora,  for  with  the 
enormous  quantity  of  bile  produced,  for  example,  by 
the  liver  of  an  ox,  it  is  absolutely  impossible  to  sup- 
pose, that  all  its  carbon  is  derived  from  the  metamor- 
phosed tissues. 

Assuming  the  59  oz.  of  dry  bile  (from  37  Ibs.  of 
fresh  bile  secreted  by  an  ox)  to  contain  the  same  per- 
centage of  nitrogen  as  choleic  acid  (3-85  per  cent.), 
this  would  amount  to  nearly  2£  oz.  of  nitrogen  ;  and 
if  this  nitrogen  proceed  from  metamorphosed  tissues, 
then,  if  all  the  carbon  of  these  tissues  passed  into  the 
bile,  it  would  yield,  at  the  utmost,  a  quantity  of  bile 
corresponding  to  7'15oz.  of  carbon.  This  is,  how- 
ever, far  below  the  quantity  which,  according  to  obser- 
vation, is  secreted  in  this  class  of  animals. 

43.  Other  substances,    besides    compounds   of  pro- 
teine,  must  inevitably  take  part  in  the  formation  of  bile 
in  the  organism  of  the  herbivora  ;  and  these  substances 
can  only  be  the  non-nitrogenized  constituents  of  their 
food. 

44.  The  sugar  of  bile  of  Gmelin  (picromel  or  biline 
of  Berzelius),  which  Berzelius  considers  as  the  chief 
constituent  of  bile,  while  Demargay  assigns  that  place 
essentially  to  choleic  acid,  burns,  when  heated  in  the 


IN  THE  HERBIVORA.  141 

air,  like  resin,  yields  ammoniacal  products,  and,  when 
treated  with  acids,  yields  taurine  and  the  products  of 
the  decomposition  of  choleic  acid  ;  when  acted  on  by 
alkalies,  it  yields  ammonia  and  cholic  acid.  At  all 
events,  the  sugar  of  bile  contains  nitrogen,  and  much 
less  oxygen  than  starch  or  sugar,  but  more  oxygen  than 
the  oily  acids.  When,  in  the  metamorphosis  of  sugar 
of  bile  or  choleic  acid  by  alkalies,  we  cause  the  separ- 
ation of  the  nitrogen,  we  obtain  a  crystallized  acid, 
very  similar  to  the  oily  acids  (cholic  acid),  and  capa- 
ble of  forming  with  bases  salts,  which  have  the  general 
characters  of  soaps.  Nay,  we  may  even  consider  the 
chief  constituents  of  the  bile,  sugar  of  bile  and  choleic 
acid,  as  compounds  of  oily  acids  with  organic  oxides, 
like  the  fat  oils,  and  only  differing  from  these  in  con- 
taining no  oxide  of  glycerule.  Choleic  acid,  for  ex- 
ample, may  be  viewed  as  a  compound  of  choloidic  acid 
with  allantoine  and  water  : 

Choloidic  acid.     Allantoine.       Water.       Choleic  acid. 
C72H66012    +  C4N2H303    +  H707  =  C76N2H66022 

Or,  as  a  compound  of  cholic  acid,  urea,  and  water  : 

Cholic  acid.  Urea.  Water.         Choleic  acid. 

C74H60018    -f  C2N2H402    4-  Ho02  =  C76N2H66022 

45.  If,  in  point  of  fact,  as  can  hardly  be  doubted, 
the  elements  of  such  substances  as  starch,  sugar,  &c., 
take  part  in  the  production  of  bile  in  the  organism 
of  the  herbivora,  there  is  nothing  opposed  to  such  a 
view  in  the  composition  of  the  chief  constituents  of  bile, 
as  far  as  our  knowledge  at  present  extends. 

If  starch  be  the  chief  agent  in  this  process,  it  can 


142  FORMATION  OF  BILE  IN  HERBIVORA. 

happen  in  no  other  way  but  this,  —  that,  as  when  it 
passes  into  fat,  a  certain  quantity  of  oxygen  is  separated 
from  the  elements  of  the  starch,  which,  for  the  same 
amount  of  carbon  (for  72  atoms),  contains  five  times 
as  much  oxygen  as  choloidic  acid. 

Without  the  separation  of  oxygen  from  the  elements 
of  starch,  it  is  impossible  to  conceive  its  conversion 
into  bile  ;  and  this  separation  being  admitted,  its  con- 
version into  a  compound,  intermediate  in  composition 
between  starch  and  fat,  offers  no  difficulty. 

46.  Not  to  render^  these  considerations  a  mere  idle 
play  with  formulae,  and  not  to  lose  sight  of  our  chief 
object,  we  observe,  therefore,  that  the  consideration  of 
the  quantitative  proportion  of  the  bile  secreted  in  the 
herbivora  leads  to  the  following  conclusions  :  — 

The  chief  constituents  of  the  bile  of  the  herbivora 
contain  nitrogen,  and  this  nitrogen  is  derived  from  com- 
pounds of  proteine. 

The  bile  of  this  class  of  animals  contains  more  car- 
bon than  corresponds  to  the  quantity  of  nitrogenized 
food  taken,  or  to  the  portion  of  tissue,  that  has  under- 
gone metamorphosis  in  the  vital  process. 

A  part  of  this  carbon  must,  therefore,  be  derived 
from  the  non-nitrogenized  parts  of  the  food  (starch, 
sugar,  &c.)  ;  and  in  order  to  be  converted  into  a  ni- 
trogenized constituent  of  bile,  a  part  of  the  elements 
of  these  bodies  must  necessarily  have  combined  with 
a  nitrogenized  compound  derived  from  a  compound  of 
proteine. 

In  reference  to  this  conclusion,  it  is  quite  indifferent 


PRODUCTION  OF  HIPPURIC  ACID.  143 

whether  that  compound  of  proteine  be  derived  from 
the  food  or  from  the  tissues  of  the  body. 

47.  It  has  very  lately  been  stated  by  A.  Ure,  that 
benzoic  acid,  when  administered  internally,  appears  in 
the  urine  in  the  form  of  hippuric  acid. 

Should  this  observation  be  confirmed,*  it  will  ac- 
quire great  physiological  significance,  since  it  would 
plainly  prove,  that  the  act  of  transformation  of  the  tis- 
sues in  the  animal  body,  under  the  influence  of  certain 
matters  taken  in  the  food,  assumes  a  new  form  with  re- 
spect to  the  products  which  are  its  result  ;  for  hippuric 
acid  contains  the  elements  of  lactate  of  urea,  with  the 
addition  of  those  of  benzoic  acid  : 

1  at.  urea  .   .   .   .  C2  N2H4  O2  \        (• 

\  2  at  crystallized  hippuric  acid 

1  at.  lactic  acid    .  C6       H4  O    v  =  } 

2  at.  benzoic  acid  COR     H1A( 


C36N2H18O12 

48.  If  we  consider  the  act  of  transformation  of  the 
tissues  in  the  herbivora,  as  we  have  done  in  the  car- 
nivora,  then  the  blood  of  the  former  must  yield,  as 
the  last  products  of  the  metamorphosis,  from  all  the 
organs  taken  together,  choleic  acid,  uric  acid,  and  am- 
monia (see  p.  129)  ;  and,  if  we  ascribe  to  the  uric  acid 
an  action  similar  to  that  of  the  benzoic  acid  in  Ure's 
observation,  —  such,  namely,  that  the  further  transfor- 
mation, owing  to  the  presence  of  this  acid,  assumes 
another  form,  the  elements  of  the  uric  acid  being  incor- 

*  The  analysis  of  the  crystals  deposited  from  the  urine  on  the  ad- 
dition of  muriatic  acid  has  not  been  performed.  Besides,  the  state- 
ment of  A.  Ure,  that  hippuric  acid,  dissolved  in  nitric  acid,  is  red- 
dened by  ammonia,  is  erroneous,  and  shows,  that  the  crystals  he  ob- 
tained must  have  contained  uric  acid.  —  L. 


144  HIPPURIC  ACID. 

porated  in  the  final  products,  —  it  will  appear,  for  exam- 
ple, that  2  at.  of  proteine,  with  the  addition  of  the  ele- 
ments of  3  at.  of  uric  acid  and  2  at.  of  oxygen,  might 
give  rise  to  the  production  of  hippuric  acid  and  urea. 

2  at.  proteine,  2  (C48N6H36O14)  =  C96  N12H72O28 

3  at.  uric  acid,  3  (C10N4H4  O6  )  =  C30  N13H12O18 
2  at.  oxygen  =  O2 

The  sum  is =  C126N24  H84O48  = 

_  C  6  at.  hippuric  acid,    6  (C18N  H8O6)  =  C108N6  H48O30 
~\  9  at.  urea 9  (C2  N2H4O2)  =  C18  N18H36O18 

The  sum  is C126N24H84O48 

49.  Finally,  if  we  bear  in  mind,  that,   in  the  herbi- 
vora,    the   non-nitrogenized  constituents  of   their   food 
(starch,  &c.)  must,  as  we  have  shown,  play  an  essential 
part  in  the  formation  of  the  bile  ;  that  to  their  elements 
must   of  necessity  be  added   those    of  a  nitrogenized 
compound,  in  order  to  produce  the  nitrogenized  constit- 
uents of  the  bile,  the  most  striking  result  of  the  combi- 
nations thus  suggested  is  this,  that  the  elements  of  starch 
added  to  those  of  hippuric  acid  are  equal  to  the  ele- 
ments of  choleic    acid,  plus  a  certain  quantity  of  car- 
bonic acid : 

2  at.  hippuric  acid,  2  (C18NH8  O6  )  =  C36N2H16O10 
5  at.  starch,  .  .  .  5  (C12  H10O10)  =  C60  H60O60 
2  at.  oxygen,  ...  =  O2 

The  sum  is =  C96N2H66O62 

_J    2  at.  choleic  acid,    2  (C38NH33On)  =  C76N2H66O22 
~~  \  20  at.  carbonic  acid,  20  ( C  O2  )  =  C20  O40 

The  sum  is =  C96N2H66O62 

50.  Now,  since  hippuric  acid  may  be  derived,  along 
with  urea,  from  the  compounds  of  proteine,  when  to  the 
elements  of  the   latter   are  added   those  of  uric    acid 
(see  above)  ;    since,  further,  uric   acid,  choleic   acid, 


CHOLEIC  ACID,  AMMONIA,  &c.  145 

and  ammonia  contain  the  elements  of  proteine  in  a  pro- 
portion almost  identical  with  that  of  proteine  itself,  (see 
p.  129)  ;  it  is  obvious  that,  if  from  5  at.  of  proteine, 
with  the  addition  of  oxygen  and  of  the  elements  of 
water,  there  be  removed  the  elements  of  choleic  acid  and 
ammonia,  the  remainder  will  represent  the  elements  of 
hippuric  acid  and  of  urea  ;  and  that  if,  when  this  separa- 
tion occurs,  and  during  the  further  transformation,  the 
elements  of  starch  be  present  and  enter  into  the  new 
products,  we  shall  obtain  an  additional  quantity  of  choleic 
acid,  as  well  as  a  certain  amount  of  carbonic  acid  gas. 

That  is  to  say,  —  that  if  the  elements  of  proteine  and 
starch,  oxygen  and  water  being  also  present,  undergo 
transformation  together  and  mutually  affect  each  other, 
we  obtain,  as  the  products  of  this  metamorphosis,  urea, 
choleic  acid,  ammonia,  and  carbonic  acid,  and  besides 
these,  no  other  product  whatever. 

The  elements  of 

5  at.  proteine  ")        f  9  at.  choleic  acid 
15  at.  starch       II    9  at.  urea 
12  at.  water       i        j    3  at.  ammonia 


5  at.  oxygen    J        1.60  at.  carbonic  acid 
In  detail,  — 

5  at.  proteine,    5  (C48N6H36O14)  =  C240N30H180O70 

15  at.  starch,      15  (C12      H10O10)  =  C180       H150O150 

12  at.  water,      12  (  HO       )  =  H12  O12 

5  at.  oxygen,  =  O6 

The  sum  is   .........   =  C42oN30H342O237 

and,  — 

9  at.  choleic  acid,    9  (C38N  H33On)  =  C342N9  H29rO99 
9  at.  urea,  .   .   .    .  9  (C2  N2H4  O2  )  =  C18  N18H36  O18 

3  at  ammonia,  .  .    3  (      N  H3        )  =         N3  H9 
60  at  carbonic  acid,  60  (C  O2  )  =  C60  O120 


The  sum  is 

13 


146  SODA  ESSENTIAL  TO  THE 

The  transformation  of  the  compounds  of  proteine 
present  in  the  body  is  effected  by  means  of  the  oxygen 
conveyed  by  the  arterial  blood,  and  if  the  elements  of 
starch,  rendered  soluble  in  the  stomach,  and  thus  carried 
to  every  part,  enter  into  the  newly  formed  compounds, 
we  have  the  chief  constituents  of  the  animal  secretions 
and  excretions  ;  carbonic  acid,  the  excretion  of  the 
lungs,  urea  and  carbonate  of  ammonia,  excreted  by  the 
kidneys,  and  choleic  acid,  secreted  by  the  liver. 

Nothing,  therefore,  in  the  chemical  composition  of 
those  matters,  which  may  be  supposed  to  take  a  share  in 
these  metamorphoses,  is  opposed  to  the  supposition,  that 
a  part  of  the  carbon  of  the  non-azotized  food  enters  into 
the  composition  of  the  bile. 

51.  Fat,  in  the  animal  body,  disappears  when  the 
supply  of  oxygen  is  abundant.  When  that  supply  is 
deficient,  choleic  acid  may  be  converted  into  hippuric 
acid,  lithofellic  acid,  (37)  and  water.  Lithofellic  acid  is 
known  to  be  the  chief  constituent  of  the  bezoar  stones, 
which  occur  in  certain  herbivorous  animals  : 

2  at.  choleic  acid  CN.,HO     )       (    2  at  hiP-  acid    C36N2H16O10 


2  at.  choleic  acid  C76N.,H66O22  )  _  (    2  at  hiP-  acid 

10  at.  oxygen  .  Olrt  S       )    l  at  lith'  acid   C 

_  _  (  14  at.  water       .   . 


C76N2H66032  C76N2H66032 

52.  For  the  production  of  bile  in  the  animal  body  a 
certain  quantity  of  soda  is,  in  all  circumstances,  neces- 
sary ;  without  the  presence  of  a  compound  of  sodium 
no  bile  can  be  formed.  In  the  absence  of  soda,  the 
metamorphosis  of  the  tissues  composed  of  proteine  can 
yield  only  fat  and  urea.  If  we  suppose  fat  to  be  com- 


FORMATION  OF  THE  BILE.  147 

posed  according  to  the  empirical  formula  CnH10O, 
then,  by  the  addition  of  oxygen  and  the  elements  of 
water  to  the  elements  of  proteine,  we  have  the  elements 
of  fat,  urea,  and  carbonic  acid. 

Proteine.  Water.         Oxygen. 

2  (C48N6H36014)  +  12  HO  +  14  O  =  C96N12HMOM  = 
t  6  at.  urea    ....==  C12N12H24O12 

=  <  Fat =  C66      H6006 

(  18  at.  carbonic  acid  =  C18  O36 

C96N12H84O64 

The  composition  of  all  fats  lies  between  the  empirical 
formulae  CUH10O  and  C12H10O.  If  we  adopt  the  lat- 
ter, then  the  elements  of  2  at.  proteine,  with  the  ad- 
dition of  2  at.  oxygen  and  12  at.  water,  will  yield  6  at. 
urea,  fat  (C72H60O6),  and  12  at.  carbonic  acid. 

It  is  worthy  of  observation,  in  reference  to  the  pro- 
duction of  fat,  that  the  absence  of  common  salt  (a 
compound  of  sodium,  which  furnishes  soda  to  the  ani- 
mal organism)  is  favorable  to  the  formation  of  fat  ; 
that  the  fattening  of  an  animal  is  rendered  impossible, 
when  we  add  to  its  food  an  excess  of  salt,  although 
short  of  the  quantity  required  to  produce  a  purgative 
effect. 

53.  As  a  kind  of  general  view  of  the  metamorphoses 
of  the  nitrogenized  animal  secretions,  attention  may 
here  be  very  properly  directed  to  the  fact,  that  the 
nitrogenized  products  of  the  transformation  of  the  bile 
are  identical  in  ultimate  composition  with  the  constitu- 
ents of  the  urine,  if  to  the  latter  be  added  a  certain 
proportion  of  the  elements  of  water. 


148  RELATION  OF  URINE  TO  BILE. 


1  at.  uric  acid  .  C10N4H4  O6  j  taurine 

1  at.  urea   .   .   .  C2  N2H4  O2      =  \          ^^         '    » 
22  at.  water  .  .  .  H,2O22  ) 


C12N6H30030  C12N6H30030 

1  at.  allantoine    C4  N2H3  O3  > C  1  at.  taurine    C4N  H7  O10 

7  at.  water     .  »  H7  O7   $       (1  at.  ammonia    N  H3 

C4N2H10010  C4N2H10010 

54.  In  reference  to  the  metamorphoses  of  uric  acid 
and  of  the  products  of  the  transformation  of  the  bile, 
it  is  not  less  significant,  and  worthy  of  remark,  that  the 
addition  of  oxygen  and  the  elements  of  water  to  the 
elements  of  uric  acid  may  yield  either  taurine  and  urea, 
or  taurine,  carbonic  acid,  and  ammonia. 


1  at.  uric  acid      C10N4H4  O6  ) 

i       \  ^  at.  taurine  .   .   O8 1>2H14U20 

14  at.  water    .   .  ±li4U14  >  —  \  .,  _.    .,  TT    _. 

*        (       (  1  at.  urea  .   .   .   C2  N2H4  O2 

2  at.  oxygen    .  O2  ) 

C10N4H18022-  C10N4H18022 

J  2  at.  taurine  .   .  C8  N2H14O20 
\  2  at.  carbon,  acid  C2  O4 

Add  2  at.  water  H2  O2  J        '2  at.  ammonia  .          N2H6 

C10N4H20O24  C10N4H20O24 

55.  Alloxan,  plus  a  certain  amount  of  water,  is  iden- 
tical in  the  proportion  of  elements  with  taurine  ;  and, 
finally,  taurine  contains  the  elements  of  superoxalate 
of  ammonia. 


H4  O10  1  —^ 

H10O10  5    :  =  2  (C4NH7O10) 


1  at.  alloxan*        C8N2H4  O10 
10  at.  water  ... 

!2  at.  oxalic  acid  C4        O6 
1  at.  ammonia        NH3 
4  at.  water    .   .         H4O4 


C4NH7010 


*  It  would  be  most  interesting  to  investigate  the  action  of  alloxan 


RELATION  OF  STARCH  TO  BILE.  149 

56.  The  comparison  of  the  amount  of  carbon  in  the 
bile  secreted  by  an  herbivorous  animal,  with  the  quan- 
tity of  carbon  of  its  tissues,  or  of  the  nitrogenized  con- 
stituents of  its  food,  which,  in  consequence  of  the  con- 
stant transformations,  may  pass  into  bile,  indicates,  as 
we  have  just  seen,  a  great  difference. 

The  carbon  of  the  bile  secreted  amounts,  at  least, 
to  more  than  five  times  the  quantity  of  that  which  could 
reach  the  liver  in  consequence  of  the  change  of  matter 
in  the  body,  either  from  the  metamorphosed  tissues  or 
from  the  nitrogenized  constituents  of  the  food  ;  and  we 
may  regard  as  well  founded  the  supposition,  that  the 
non-azotized  constituents  of  the  food  take  a  decided 
share  in  the  production  of  bile  in  the  herbivora  ;  for 
neither  experience  nor  observation  contradicts  this 
opinion. 

57.  We   have   given,  in   the  foregoing   paragraphs, 
the  analytical  proof,  that  the  nitrogenized  products  of 
the  transformation  of  bile,  namely,  taurine  and  ammo- 
nia, may  be  formed   from  all   the  constituents  of  the 
urine,  with  the  exception  of  urea,  —  that  is,  from  hip- 
puric   acid,   uric   acid,  and  allantoine  ;    and  when  we 
bear  in  mind  that,  by  the  mere  separation  of  oxygen 
and   the   elements   of  water,    choloidic   acid   may   be 
formed  from  starch  ;  — 


on  the  human  body.  Two  or  three  drachms,  in  crystals,  had  no 
injurious  action  on  rabbits  to  which  it  was  given.  In  man,  a  large 
dose  appeared  to  act  only  on  the  kidneys.  In  certain  diseases 
of  the  liver,  alloxan  would  very  probably  be  found  a  most  powerful 
remedy.  —  J.  L. 


150  RELATION  OF  STARCH,  &c.  TO  BILK 

From  6  at.  starch  =  6  (C12H10O10)  =  C72UK)O60 
Subtract  44  at.  oxygen  i  _  HO 

4  at.  water     \ 


Remains  choloidic  acid =  C72H66O12  ;  — 

that,  finally,  choloidic  acid,  ammonia,  and  taurine,  if 
added  together,  contain  the  elements  of  choleic  acid  ; — 

]  at.  choloidic  acid  =  C72  HS6O12 
1  at.  taurine  .  .  -.  =  C4  N  H7  O10 
1  at.  ammonia  .  .  =  N  H3 


1  at.  choleic  acid  .  =  C76N2  H66O22 ;  — 

if  all  this  be  considered,  every  doubt  as  to  the  possi- 
bility of  these  changes  is  removed. 

58.  Chemical  analysis  and  the  study  of  the  living 
animal   body  mutually  support  each  other  ;  and   both 
lead  to  the  conclusion,  that  a  certain  portion  of  the 
carbon   of  the  non-azotized    constituents   of  food   (of 
starch,  &c.,  the  elements  of  respiration)  is  secreted  by 
the  liver  in  the  form  of  bile  ;  and   further,   that   the 
nitrogenized  products  of  the  transformation  of  tissues  in 
the  herbivora  do  not,  as  in  the  carnivora,  reach  the 
kidneys  immediately  or  directly,  but  that,  before  their 
expulsion  from  the  body  in  the  form  of  urine,  they  take 
a  share   in  certain  other  processes,   especially  in  the 
formation  of  the  bile. 

They  are  conveyed  to  the  liver  with  the  non-azotized 
constituents  of  the  food  ;  they  are  returned  to  the  cir- 
culation in  the  form  of  bile,  and  are  not  expelled  by  the 
kidneys  till  they  have  thus  served  for  the  production 
of  the  most  important  of  the  substances  employed  in 
respiration. 

59.  When  the  urine  is  left  to  itself,  the  urea  which 


ORIGIN  OF  THE  BILE.  151 

it  contains  is  converted  into  carbonate  of  ammonia  ; 
the  elements  of  urea  are  in  such  proportion,  that  by  the 
addition  of  the  elements  of  water,  all  its  carbon  is  con- 
verted into  carbonic  acid,  and  all  its  nitrogen  into  am- 
monia. 

1  at.  urea    C2N2H4O2  >  _  J  2  at.  carbonic  acid  C2          O4 

2  at.  water  H2O3  $  ~~  \  2  at.  ammonia  .  .  .     N2H6 

C2N.tH6O4  C2N2H6O4 

60.  Were  we  able  directly  to  produce  taurine  and 
ammonia  out  of  uric  acid  or  allantoine,  this  might  per- 
haps be  considered  as  an  additional  proof  of  the  share 
which  has  been  ascribed  to  these  compounds  in  the 
production  of  bile  ;  it  cannot,  however,  be  viewed  as 
any  objection  to  the  views  above  developed  on  the 
subject,  that,  with  the  means  we  possess,  we  have  not 
yet  succeeded  in  effecting  these  transformations  out  of 
the  body.  Such  an  objection  loses  all  its  force,  when 
we  consider  that  we  cannot  admit,  as  proved,  the  pre- 
existence.of  taurine  and  ammonia  in  the  bile  ;  nay,  that 
it  is  not  even  probable,  that  these  compounds,  which 
are  only  known  to  us  as  products  of  the  decomposition 
of  the  bile,  exist  ready  formed,  as  ingredients  of  that 
fluid. 

By  the  action  of  muriatic  acid  on  bile,  we,  in  a 
manner,  force  its  elements  to  unite  in  such  forms  as  are 
no  longer  capable  of  change  under  the  influence  of  the 
same  reagent ;  and  when,  instead  of  the  acid,  we  use 
potash,  we  obtain  the  same  elements,  although  arranged 
in  another,  and  quite  a  different  manner.  If  taurine  were 
present,  ready  formed,  in  bile,  we  should  obtain  the 


152  ORIGIN  OF  THE  BILE. 

same  products  by  the  action  of  acids  and  of  alkalies. 
This,  however,  is  contrary  to  experience. 

Thus,  even  if  we  could  convert  allantoine,  or  uric 
acid  and  urea,  into  taurine  and  ammonia,  out  of  the 
body,  we  should  acquire  no  additional  insight  into  the 
true  theory  of  the  formation  of  bile,  just  because  the 
preexistence  of  ammonia  and  taurine  in  the  bile  must 
be  doubted,  and  because  we  have  no  reason  to  believe 
that  urea  or  allantoine,  as  such,  are  employed  by  the 
organism  in  the  production  of  bile.  We  can  prove  that 
their  elements  serve  this  purpose,  but  we  are  utterly 
ignorant  how  these  elements  enter  into  these  combina- 
tions, or  what  is  the  chemical  character  of  the  nitro- 
genized  compound  which  unites  with  the  elements  of 
starch  to  form  bile,  or  rather  choleic  acid. 

61.  Choleic  acid  may  be  formed  from  the  elements 
of  starch  with  those  of  uric  acid  and  urea,  or  of  allan- 
toine, or  of  uric  acid,  or  of  alloxan,  or  of  oxalic  acid 
and  ammonia,  or  of  hippuric  acid.  The  possibility  of 
its  being  produced  from  so  great  a  variety  of  nitrogen- 
ized  compounds  is  sufficient  to  show,  that  all  the  nitro- 
genized  products  of  the  metamorphosis  of  the  tissues 
may  be  employed  in  the  formation  of  bile,  while  we 
cannot  tell  in  what  precise  way  they  are  so  employed. 

By  the  action  of  caustic  alkalies  allantoine  may 
be  resolved  into  oxalic  acid  and  ammonia  ;  the  same 
products  are  obtained  when  oxamide  is  acted  on  by  the 
same  reagents.  Yet  we  cannot,  from  the  similarity  of 
the  products,  conclude  that  these  two  compounds  have 
a  similar  constitution.  In  like  manner  the  nature  of 


VITAL  METAMORPHOSES.  153 

the  products  formed  by  the  action  of  acids  on  choleic 
acid  does  not  entitle  us  to  draw  any  conclusion  as  to 
the  form  in  which  its  elements  are  united  together. 

62.  If  the  problem  to  be  solved  by  organic  chemistry 
be  this,  namely,  to  explain  the  changes  which  the  food 
undergoes  in  the  animal  body  ;  then  it  is  the  business 
of  this  science  to  ascertain  what  elements  must  be 
added,  what  elements  must  be  separated,  in  order  to 
effect,  or,  in  general,  to  render  possible,  the  conversion 
of  a  given  compound  into  a  second  or  a  third  ;  but  we 
cannot  expect  from  it  the  synthetic  proof  of  the  accuracy 
of  the  views  entertained,  because  every  thing  in  the 
organism  goes  on  under  the  influence  of  the  vital  force, 
an  immaterial  agency,  which  the  chemist  cannot  employ 

at  will. 

The  study  of  the  phenomena  which  accompany  the 
metamorphoses  of  the  food  in  the  organism,  the  dis- 
covery of  the  share  which  the  atmosphere  or  the  ele- 
ments of  water  take  in  these  changes,  lead  at  once  to 
the  conditions  which  must  be  united  in  order  to  the 
production  of  a  secretion  or  of  an  organized  part. 

63.  The  presence  of  free  muriatic  acid  in  the  stom- 
ach, and  that  of  soda  in-  the  blood,  prove  beyond  all 
doubt  the  necessity  of  common  salt  for  the  organic  pro- 
cesses ;  but  the  quantities  of  soda  required  by  animals 
of  different  classes,  to  support  the  vital  processes,  are 
singularly  unequal. 

If  we  suppose,  that  a  given  amount  of  blood,  con- 
sidered as  a  compound  of  soda,  passes,  in  the  body  of 
a  carnivorous  animal,  in  consequence  of  the  change  of 


154  USES  OF  COMMON  SALT. 

matter,  into  a  new  compound  of  soda,  namely,  the 
bile,  we  must  assume,  that  in  the  normal  condition  of 
health,  the  proportion  of  soda  in  the  blood  is  amply 
sufficient  to  form  bile  with  the  products  of  transforma- 
tion. The  soda  which  has  been  used  in  the  vital  pro- 
cesses, and  any  excess  of  soda,  must  be  expelled  in 
the  form  of  a  salt,  after  being  separated  from  the  blood 
by  the  kidneys. 

Now,  if  it  be  true,  that,  in  the  body  of  an  herbivo- 
rous animal,  a  much  larger  quantity  of  bile  is  produced 
than  corresponds  to  the  amount  of  blood  formed  or 
transformed  in  the  vital  processes  ;  if  the  greater  part 
of  the  bile,  in  this  case,  proceeds  from  the  non-azotized 
constituents  of  the  food,  then  the  soda  of  the  blood 
which  has  been  formed  into  organized  tissue  (assimilated 
or  metamorphosed)  cannot  possibly  suffice  for  the  sup- 
ply of  the  daily  secretion  of  bile.  The  soda,  therefore, 
of  the  bile  of  the  herbivora  must  be  supplied  directly 
in  the  food  ;  their  organism  must  possess  the  power  of 
applying  directly  to  the  formation  of  bile  all  the  com- 
pounds of  soda  present  in  the  food,  and  decomposable 
by  the  organic  process.  All  the  soda  of  the  animal 
body  obviously  proceeds  from  the  food  ;  but  the  food 
of  the  carnivora  contains,  at  most,  only  the  amount  of 
soda  necessary  to  the  formation  of  blood  ;  and  in  most 
cases,  among  animals  of  this  class,  we  may  assume  that 
only  as  much  soda  as  corresponds  to  the  proportion 
employed  to  form  the  blood,  is  expelled  in  the  urine. 

When  the  carnivora  obtain  in  their  food  as  much 
soda  as  suffices  for  the  production  of  their  blood,  an 


USES  OF  SALT.  155 

equal  amount  is  excreted  in  the  urine  ;  when  the  food 
contains  less,  a  part  of  that  which  would  otherwise  be 
excreted,  is  retained  by  the  organism. 

All  these  statements  are  most  unequivocally  confirmed 
by  the  composition  of  the  urine  in  these  different  classes 
of  animals. 

64.  As  the  ultimate  product  of  the  changes  of  all 
compounds  of  soda  in  the  animal  body,  we  find  in  the 
urine  the  soda  in  the  form  of  a  salt,  and  the  nitrogen  in 
that  of  ammonia  or  urea. 

The  soda  in  the  urine  of  the  carnivora  is  found  in 
combination  with  sulphuric  and  phosphoric  acids  ;  and 
along  with  the  sulphate  and  phosphate  of  soda  we  never 
fail  to  find  a  certain  quantity  of  a  salt  of  ammonia,  either 
muriate  or  phosphate  of  ammonia.  There  can  be  no 
more  decisive  evidence  in  favor  of  the  opinion,  that  the 
soda  of  their  bile,  or  of  the  metamorphosed  constituents 
of  their  blood  is  very  far  from  sufficing  to  neutralize  the 
acids  which  are  separated,  than  the  presence  of  am- 
monia in  their  urine.  This  urine,  moreover,  has  an 
acid  reaction. 

In  contradistinction  to  this,  we  find,  in  the  urine  of 
the  herbivora,  soda  in  predominating  quantity  ;  and  that 
not  combined  with  sulphuric  or  phosphoric  acids,  but 
with  carbonic,  benzoic,  or  hippuric  acids. 

65.  These   well-established  facts    demonstrate,    that 
the  herbivora  consume  a  far  larger  quantity  of  soda  than 
is  required  merely  for  the  supply  of  the  daily  consump- 
tion of  blood.     In  their  food  are   united  all  the   condi- 
tions for  the  production  of  a  second  compound  of  soda, 


156  LAKGE  AMOUNT  OF  ALKALIES 

destined  for  the  support  of  the  respiratory  process  ;  and 
it  can  only  be  a  very  limited  knowledge  of  the  vast 
wisdom  displayed  in  the  arrangements  of  organized 
nature,  which  can  look  on  the  presence  of  so  much 
soda  in  the  food  and  in  the  urine  of  the  herbivora  as 
accidental. 

It  cannot  be  accidental,  that  the  life,  the  develop- 
ment of  a  plant  is  dependent  on  the  presence  of  the 
alkalies  which  it  extracts  from  the  soil.  This  plant 
serves  as  food  to  an  extensive  class  of  animals,  and  in 
these  animals  the  vital  process  is  again  most  closely 
connected  with  the  presence  of  these  alkalies.  We 
find  the  alkalies  in  the  bile,  and  their  presence  in  the 
animal  body  is  the  indispensable  condition  for  the  pro- 
duction of  the  first  food  of  the  young  animal  ;  for  with- 
out an  abundant  supply  of  potash,  the  production  of 
milk  becomes  impossible. 

66.  All  observation  leads,  as  appears  from  the  pre- 
ceding exposition,  to  the  opinion,  that  certain  non- 
azotized  constituents  of  the  food  of  the  herbivora 
(starch,  sugar,  gum,  &c.)  acquire  the  form  of  a  com- 
pound of  soda,  which,  in  their  bodies,  serves  for  the 
same  purpose  as  that  which  we  know  certainly  to  be 
served  by  the  bile  (the  most  highly  carbonized  product 
of  the  transformation  of  their  tissues)  in  the  bodies  of 
the  carnivora.  These  substances  are  employed  to  sup- 
port certain  vital  actions,  and  are  finally  consumed  in 
the  generation  of  animal  heat,  and  in  furnishing  means 
of  resistance  to  the  action  of  the  atmosphere.  In  the 
carnivora,  the  rapid  transformation  of  their  tissues  is  a 


REQUIRED  BY  HERBIVORA.  157 

condition  of  their  existence,  because  it  is  only  as  the 
result  of  the  change  of  matter  in  the  body,  that  those 
substances  can  be  formed,  which  are  destined  to  enter 
into  combination  with  the  oxygen  of  the  air  ;  and  in 
this  sense  we  may  say,  that  the  non-azotized  constituents 
of  the  food  of  the  herbivora  impede  the  change  of  mat- 
ter, or  retard  it,  and  render  unnecessary,  at  all  events, 
so  rapid  a  process  as  occurs  in  the  carnivora. 

67.  The   quantity  of  azotized  matter,  'proportionally 
so  small,  which  the  herbivora  require  to   support  their 
vital   functions,   is    closely   connected  with  the   power 
possessed  by  the  non-azotized  parts  of  their  food  to   act 
as    means  of  supporting  the   respiratory  process  ;  and 
this  consideration   seems  to  render  it  not  improbable, 
that  the  necessity  for  more  complex  organs  of  digestion 
in  the  herbivora  is  rather   owing  to  the  difficulty  of  ren- 
dering soluble  and   available  for  the  vital  processes  cer- 
tain non-azotized  compounds  (gum  ?  amylaceous  fibre  ?)' 
than  to  any  thing  in   the   change   or  transformation  of 
vegetable   fibrine,    albumen,    and   caseine  into    blood  ; 
since,  for  this  latter  purpose,  the  less  complex  digestive 
apparatus  of  the  carnivora  is  amply  sufficient. 

68.  If,  in  man,  when   fed   on   a  mixed   diet,   starch 
perform  a  similar  part  to  that  which  it  plays  in  the  body 
of  the  herbivora  ;  if  it  be  assumed,  that  the  elements  of 
starch  are  equally  necessary  to  the  formation  of  the  bile 
in  man  as  in  these  animals  ;  then  it  follows,  that  a  part 
of  the   azotized  products   of  the   transformation  of  the 
tissues   in  the  human  body,  before   they  are  expelled 
through  the  bladder,  returns   into  the   circulation  from 

14 


158  STARCH,  &c.,  ASSIST  IN  FORMING 

the  liver  in  the  shape  of  bile,  and  is  separated  by  the 
kidneys  from  the  blood,  as  the  ultimate  product  of  the 
respiratory  process. 

69.  When  there  is  a  deficiency  of  non-azotized  mat- 
ter in  the  food  of  man,  this  form  of  the   production  of 
bile  is  rendered  impossible.     In  that  case,  the  secre- 
tions  must  possess   a  different  composition  ;    and  the 
appearance  of  uric  acid  in  the  urine,  the  deposition  of 
uric  acid  in  the  joints   and  in  the  bladder,  as  well  as 
the  influence   which   an  excess  of  animal  food  (which 
must  be  considered  equivalent  to  a  deficiency  of  starch, 
&c.)  exercises  on  the   separation  of  uric  acid  in  certain 
individuals,    may  be    explained  on  this   principle.     If 
starch,  sugar,  &c.,  be  deficient,  then  a  part  of  the  azo- 
tized  compounds,  formed  during  the   change  of  matter, 
will  either  remain  in  the  situation  where  they  have  been 
formed,  in  which  case   they  will  not  be   sent  from  the 
liver  into  the  circulation,  and  therefore  will  not  undergo 
the  final  changes   dependent  on  the   action  of  oxygen  ; 
or  they  will  be   separated  by  the  kidneys  in  some  form 
different  from  the  normal  one. 

70.  In  the   preceding  paragraphs  I  have  endeavored 
to  prove,  that  the  non-azotized  constituents  of  food  ex- 
ercise a  most  decided  influence  on  the  nature  and  quality 
of  the  animal  secretions.    Whether  this  occurs  directly  ; 
whether,  that  is  to  say,  their  elements  take  an  immedi- 
ate  share  in  the  act  of  transformation  of  tissues  ;  or 
whether  their  share  in  that  process  be  an  indirect  one,  is 
a  question  probably  capable  of  being  resolved  by  care- 
ful  and  cautious    experiment   and    observation.     It   is 


BILE  IN  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  159 

possible,  that  the  non-azotized  constituents  of  food, 
after  undergoing  some  change,  are  carried  from  the  in- 
testinal canal  directly  to  the  liver,  and  that  they  are 
converted  into  bile  in  this  organ,  where  they  meet  with 
the  products  of  the  metamorphosed  tissues,  and  subse- 
quently complete  their  course  ^through  the  circulation. 

This  opinion  appears  more  probable,  when  we  reflect, 
that  as  yet  no  trace  of  starch  or  sugar  has  been  detected 
in  arterial  blood,  not  even  in  animals  which  had  been 
fed  exclusively  with  these  substances.  We  cannot  as- 
cribe to  these  substances,  since  they  are  wanting  in 
arterial  blood,  any  share  in  the  nutritive  process  ;  and 
the  occurrence  of  sugar  in  the  urine  of  those  affected 
with  diabetes  mellitus,  (which  sugar,  according  to  the 
best  observations,  is  derived  from  the  food,)  coupled 
with  its  total  absence  in  the  blood  of  the  same  patients, 
obviously  proves  that  starch  and  sugar  are  not,  as  such, 
taken  into  the  circulation. 

71.  The    writings    of    physiologists    contain    many 
proofs   of  the  presence  of  certain  constituents   of  the 
bile  in  the  blood  of  man  in  a  state  of  health,  although 
their  quantity  can  hardly  be  determined.     Indeed,  if  we 
suppose   8|lbs.    (58,000  grs.)  of  blood   to  pass  through 
the  liver  every  minute,  and  if  from  this  quantity  of  blood 
2  drops  of  bile  (3  grains  to  the  drop)  are  secreted,  this 
would   amount  to  ^th  part  of  the  weight  of  the  blood, 
a  proportion  far  too   small  to  be   quantitatively  ascer- 
tained by  analysis. 

72.  The  greater  part  of  the  bile  in  the  body  of  the 
herbivora,  and   in  that  of  man  fed  on  mixed   food,  ap- 


160  ORIGIN  OF  THE  NITROGEN. 

pears  from  the  preceding  considerations  to  be  derived 
from  the  elements  of  the  non-azotized  food.  But  its 
formation  is  impossible  without  the  addition  of  an  azo- 
tized  body,  for  the  bile  is  a  compound  of  nitrogen.  All 
varieties  of  bile  yet  examined  yield,  when  subjected  to 
dry  distillation,  ammonia  and  other  nitrogenized  pro- 
ducts. Taurine  and  ammonia  may  easily  be  extracted 
from  ox  bile  ;  and  the  only  reason  why  we  cannot  posi- 
tively prove  that  the  same  products  may  be  obtained 
from  the  bile  of  other  animals  is  this,  that  it  is  not  easy 
to  procure,  in  the  case  of  many  of  these  animals,  a 
sufficient  quantity  of  bile  for  the  experiment. 

Now,  whether  the  nitrogenized  compound  which 
unites  with  the  elements  of  starch  to  form  bile  be  de- 
rived from  the  food,  or  from  the  substance  of  the  meta- 
morphosed tissues,  the  conclusion,  that  its  presence  is 
an  essential  condition  for  the  secretion  of  bile,  cannot 
be  considered  doubtful. 

Since  the  herbivora  obtain  in  their  food  only  such 
nitrogenized  compounds  as  are  identical  in  composition 
with  the  constituents  of  their  blood,  it  is  at  all  events 
clear,  that  the  nitrogenized  compound  which  enters  into 
the  composition  of  the  bile,  is  derived  from  a  compound 
of  proteine.  It  is  either  formed  in  consequence  of  a 
change  which  the  compounds  of  proteine  in  the  food 
have  undergone,  or  it  is  produced  from  the  blood,  or 
from  the  substance  of  the  tissues,  by  the  act  of  their 
metamorphosis. 

73.  If  the  conclusion  be  accurate,  that  nitrogenized 
compounds,  whether  derived  from  the  blood  or  from 


MEDICINAL  AND  POISONOUS  SUBSTANCES.  161 

the  food,  take  a  decided  share  in  the  formation  of  the 
secretions,  and  particularly  of  the  bile,  then  it  is  plain, 
that  the  organism  must  possess  the  power  of  causing 
foreign  matters,  which  are  neither  parts  nor  constituents 
of  the  organs  in  which  vital  activity  resides,  to  serve 
for  certain  vital  processes.  All  nitrogenized  substances 
capable  of  being  rendered  soluble,  without  exception, 
when  introduced  into  the  organs  of  circulation  or  of  di- 
gestion, must,  if  their  composition  be  adapted  for  such 
purposes,  be  employed  by  the  organism  in  the  same 
manner  as  the  nitrogenized  products  which  are  formed 
in  the  act  of  metamorphosis  of  tissues. 

We  are  acquainted  with  a  multitude  of  substances, 
which  exercise  a  most  marked  influence  on  the  act  of 
transformation,  as  well  as  on  the  nutritive  process, 
while  their  elements  take  no  share  in  the  resulting 
changes.  These  are  uniformly  substances,  the  particles 
of  which  are  in  a  certain  state  of  motion  or  of  decompo- 
sition, which  state  is  communicated  to  all  such  parts  of 
the  organism  as  are  capable  of  undergoing  a  similar 
transformation. 

74.  Medicinal  and  poisonous  substances  form  a  sec- 
ond and  most  extensive  class  of  compounds,  the  ele- 
ments of  which  are  capable  of  taking  a  direct  or  an 
indirect  share  in  the  processes  of  secretion  and  of 
transformation.  These  may  be  subdivided  into  three 
great  orders  ;  the  first  (which  includes  the  metallic 
poisons)  consists  of  substances  which  enter  into  chemi- 
cal combination  with  certain  parts  or  constituents  of 
the  body,  while  the  vital  force  is  insufficient  to  destroy 
14* 


162  JMEDICINAL  AND  POISONOUS  SUBSTANCES. 

the  compounds  thus  formed.  The  second  division, 
consisting  of  the  essential  oils,  camphor,  empyreumatic 
substances,  and  antiseptics,  &c.,  possesses  the  property 
of  impeding  or  retarding  those  kinds  of  transformation 
to  which  certain  very  complex  organic  molecules  are 
liable  ;  transformations  which,  when  they  take  place 
out  of  the  body,  are  usually  designated  by  the  names 
of  fermentation  and  putrefaction. 

The  third  division  of  medicinal  substances  is  composed 
of  bodies,  the  elements  of  which  take  a  direct  share  in 
the  changes  going  on  in  the  animal  body.  When  intro- 
duced into  the  system,  they  augment  the  energy  of  the 
vital  activity  of  one  or  more  organs  ;  they  excite  mor- 
bid phenomena  in  the  healthy  body.  All  of  them  pro- 
duce a  marked  effect  in  a  comparatively  small  dose,  and 
many  are  poisonous  when  administered  in  larger  quan- 
tity. None  of  the  substances  in  this  class  can  be  said  to 
take  a  decided  share  in  the  nutritive  process,  or  to  be 
employed  by  the  organism  in  the  production  of  blood ; 
partly,  because  their  composition  is  different  from  that 
of  blood,  and,  partly,  because  the  proportion  in  which 
they  must  be  given,  to  exert  their  influence,  is  as  noth- 
ing, compared  with  the  mass  of  the  blood. 

These  substances,  when  taken  into  the  circulation, 
alter,  as  is  commonly  said,  the  quality  of  the  blood,  and 
in  order  that  they  may  pass  from  the  stomach  into  the 
circulation  with  their  entire  efficacy,  we  must  assume 
that  their  composition  is  not  affected  by  the  organic  in- 
fluence of  the  stomach.  If  insoluble  when  given,  they 
are  rendered  soluble  in  that  organ,  but  they  are  not  de- 


ACTION  OF  ARTERIAL  BLOOD.  163 

composed  ;  otherwise,  they  would  be  incapable  of  ex- 
erting any  influence  on  the  blood. 

,  75.  The  blood,  in  its  normal  state,  possesses  two 
qualities  closely  related  to  each  other,  although  we  may 
conceive  one  of  them  to  be  quite  independent  of  the 
other. 

The  blood  contains,  in  the  form  of  the  globules,  the 
carriers,  as  it  were,  of  the  oxygen  which  serves  for  the 
production  of  certain  tissues,  as  well  as  for  the  genera- 
tion of  animal  heat.  The  globules  of  the  blood,  by 
means  of  the  property  they  possess  of  giving  off  the 
oxygen  they  have  taken  up  in  the  lungs,  without  losing 
their  peculiar  character,  determine  generally  the  change 
of  matter  in  the  body. 

The  second  quality  of  the  blood,  namely,  the  prop- 
erty which  it  possesses  of  becoming  part  of  an  organ- 
ized tissue,  and  its  consequent  adaptation  to  promote  the 
formation  and  the  growth  of  organs,  as  well  as  to  the 
reproduction  or  supply  of  waste  in  the  tissues,  is  owing, 
chiefly,  to  the  presence  of  dissolved  fibrine  and  albu- 
men. These  two  chief  constituents,  which  serve  for 
nutrition  and  reproduction  of  matter,  in  passing  through 
the  lungs  are  saturated  with  oxygen,  or,  at  all  events, 
absorb  so  much  from  the  atmosphere  as  entirely  to  lose 
the  power  of  extracting  oxygen  from  the  other  substan- 
ces present  in  the  blood. 

76.  We  know  for  certain  that  the  globules  of  the 
venous  blood,  when  they  come  in  contact  with  air  in  the 
lungs,  change  their  color,  and  that  this  change  of  color 
is  accompanied  by  an  absorption  of  oxygen  ;  and  that 


164  ACTION  OF  ARTERIAL  BLOOD. 

all  those  constituents  of  the  blood,  which  possess  in  any 
degree  the  power  of  combining  with  oxygen,  absorb  it 
in  the  lungs,  and  become  saturated  with  it.  Although 
in  contact  with  these  other  compounds,  the  globules, 
when  arterialized,  retain  their  florid,  red  color  in  the 
most  minute  ramifications  of  the  arteries  ;  and  we  ob- 
serve them  to  change  their  color,  and  to  assume  the 
dark  red  color  which  characterizes  venous  blood,  only 
during  their  passage  through  the  capillaries.  From  these 
facts  we  must  conclude,  that  the  constituents  of  arterial 
blood  are  altogether  destitute*  of  the  power  to  deprive 
the  arterialized  globules  of  the  oxygen  which  they  have 
absorbed  from  the  air ;  and  we  can  draw  no  other  con- 
clusion from  the  change  of  color  which  occurs  in  the 
capillaries,  than  that  the  arterialized  globules,  during 
their  passage  through  the  capillaries,  return  to  the  con- 
dition which  characterizes  them  in  venous  blood  ;  that, 
consequently,  they  give  up  the  oxygen  absorbed  in  the 
lungs,  and  thus  acquire  the  power  of  combining  with 
that  element  afresh. 

77.  We  find,  therefore,  in  arterial  blood,  albumen, 
which,  like  all  the  other  constituents  of  that  fluid,  has 
become  saturated  with  oxygen  in  its  passage  through 
the  lungs,  and  oxygen  gas,  which  is  conveyed  to  every 
particle  iri  the  body  in  chemical  combination  with  the 
globules  of  the  blood.  As  far  as  our  observations  ex- 
tend (in  the  development  of  the  chick  during  incuba- 
tion), all  the  conditions  seem  to  be  here  united  which 
are  necessary  to  the  formation  of  every  kind  of  tissue  ; 
while  that  portion  of  oxygen  which  is  not  consumed  in 


ACTION  OF  MEDICINAL  AGENTS.  165 

the  growth  or  reproduction  of  organs,  combines  with  the 
substance  of  the  living  parts,  and  produces,  by  its  union 
with  their  elements,  the  act  of  transformation  which  we 
have  called  the  change  of  matter. 

78.  It  is   obvious,  that  all  compounds,  of  whatever 
kind,  which  are  present  in  the  capillaries,  whether  sepa- 
rated there,  or  introduced  by  endosmosis  (A)  or  imbibi- 
tion, if  not  altogether  incapable  of  uniting  with  oxygen, 
must,  when  in  contact  with  the  arterialized  globules,  the 
carriers  of  oxygen,  be  affected  exactly  in  the  same  way 
as  the  solids  forming  part  of  living  organs.     These  com- 
pounds, or  their  elements,  will  enter  into  combination 
with  oxygen,  and  in  this  case  there  will  either  be  no 
change  of  matter,  or  that  change  will  exhibit  itself  in 
another  form,  yielding  products  of  a  different  kind. 

79.  The    conception,  then,  of  a  change   in  the  two 
qualities  of  the  blood  above  alluded  to,  by  means  of  a 
foreign  body  contained  in  the  blood  or  introduced  into 
the    circulation  (a   medicinal   agent),  presupposes    two 
kinds  of  operation. 

Assuming,  that  the  remedy  cannot  enter  into  any  such 
chemical  union  with  the  constituents  of  the  blood  as  puts 
an  end  to  the  vital  activity  ;  assuming,  further,  that  it  is 
not  in  a  condition  of  transformation  capable  of  being 
communicated  to  the  constituents  of  the  blood  or  of  the 
organs,  and  of  continuing  in  them ;  assuming,  lastly, 
that  it  is  incapable,  by  its  contact  with  the  living  parts, 
of  putting  a  stop  to  the  change  of  matter,  the  trans- 
formation of  their  elements ;  then,  in  order  to  discover 
the  modus  operandi  of  this  class  of  medicinal  agents, 


166  ORGANIC  REMEDIAL  AGENTS. 

nothing  is  left  but  to  conclude  that  their  elements  take 
a  share  in  the  formation  of  certain  constituents  of  the 
living  body,  or  in  the  production  of  certain  secretions. 

80.  The  vital  process  of  secretion,  in  so  far  as  it  is 
related   to  the  chemical  forces,  has  been  subjected  to 
examination  in  the  preceding  pages.     In  the  carnivora 
we  have  reason  to  believe,  that,  without  the  addition  of 
any  foreign  matter  in  the  food,  the  bile  and  the  constit- 
uents of  the  urine  are  formed  in  those  parts  where   the 
change  of  matter  takes  place.     In  other  classes  of  ani- 
mals, on  the  other  hand,  we  may  suppose  that  in  the 
organ  of  secretion  itself,  the  secreted  fluid  is  produced 
from  certain  matters  conveyed  to  it ;  in  the  herbivora, 
for  example,  the   bile  is  formed  from  the  elements  of 
starch  along  with  those  of  a  nitrogenized  product  of  the 
metamorphosis  of  the  tissues.     But  this  supposition  by 
no  means  excludes  the  opinion,  that  in  the  carnivora  the 
products  of  the  metamorphosed  tissues  are  resolved  into 
bile,  uric  acid,  or  urea,  only  after  reaching  the  secreting 
organ  ;  nor  the  opinion,  that  the  elements  of  the   non- 
azotized  food,  conveyed,  directly  by  the   circulation   to 
every  part  of  the  body,  where  change  of  matter  is  going 
on,  may  there  unite  with  the  elements  of  the  metamor- 
phosed tissues,  to  form  the  constituents  of  the  bile  and 
of  the  urine. 

81.  If  we  now  assume,  that  certain  medicinal  agents 
may  become   constituents  of  secretions,   this   can   only 
occur  in  two  ways.     Either  they  enter  the  circulation, 
and  take  a  direct  share  in  the  change   of  matter,  in  so 
far  as  their  elements  enter  into  the  composition  of  the 


NITROGENIZED  ORGANIC  REMEDIES.  167 

new  products  ;  or  they  are  conveyed  to  the  organs  of 
secretion,  where  they  exert  an  influence  on  the  forma- 
tion or  on  the  quality  of  a  secretion  by  the  addition  of 
their  elements.* 

In  either  case,  they  must  lose  in  the  organism  their 
chemical  character  ;  and  we  know  with  sufficient  cer- 
tainty, that  this  class  of  medicinal  bodies  disappears  in 
the  body  without  leaving  a  trace.  In  fact,  if  we  as- 
cribe to  them  any  effect,  they  cannot  lose  their  peculiar 
character  by  the  action  of  the  stomach  ;  their  disap- 
pearance, therefore,  presupposes  that  they  have  been 
applied  to  certain  purposes,  which  cannot  be  imagined 
to  occur  without  a  change  in  their  composition. 

82.  Now,   however   limited  may  be    our  knowledge 
of  the  composition  of  the  different  secretions,  with  the 
exception  of  the  bile,  this  much  is  certain,  that  all  the 
secretions  contain  nitrogen  chemically  combined.    They 
pass   into   fetid   putrefaction,   and  yield   either   in   this 
change,  or  in  the  dry  distillation,  amrnoniacal  products. 
Even  the  saliva,  when  acted  on  by  caustic  potash,  dis- 
engages ammonia  freely. 

83.  Medicinal  or  remedial  agents  may  be  divided  into 
two  classes,  the  nitrogenized  and  the  non-nitrogenized. 
The  nitrogenized  vegetable  principles,  whose  composi- 
tion differs  from  that  of  the   proper  nitrogenized  ele- 
ments  of  nutrition,   also  produced  by  a  vegetable  or- 
ganism, are   distinguished,  beyond  all  others,  for  their 
powerful  action  on  the  animal  economy. 

*  See  note  XLIII.  on  the  conversion  of  benzole  acid  into  hippuric 
acid. 


168  VEGETABLE  ALKALIES,  &c. 

The  effects  of  these  substances  are  singularly  varied  ; 
from  the  mildest  form  of  the  action  of  aloes,  to  the 
most  terrible  poison,  strychnia,  we  observe  an  endless 
variety  of  different  actions. 

With  the  exception  of  three,  all  these  substances 
produce  diseased  conditions  in  the  healthy  organism, 
and  are  poisonous  in  certain  doses.  Most  of  them  are, 
chemically  speaking,  basic  or  alkaline. 

No  remedy,  devoid  of  nitrogen,  possesses  a  poison- 
ous action  in  a  similar  dose.* 

84.  The  medicinal  or  poisonous  action  of  the  nitro- 
genized  vegetable  principles  has  a  fixed  relation  to  their 
composition  ;  it  cannot  be  supposed  to  be  independent 
of  the  nitrogen  they  contain,  but  is  certainly  not  in  di- 
rect proportion  to  the  quantity  of  nitrogen. 

Solanine  (as),  and  picrotoxine  (39),  which  contain 
least  nitrogen,  are  powerful  poisons.  Quinine  (40)  con- 
tains more  nitrogen  than  morphia  (41).  Caffeine  (42), 
and  theobromine,  the  most  highly  nitrogenized  of  all 
vegetable  principles,  are  not  poisonous. 

85.  A  nitrogenized  body,  which  exerts,  by  means  of 
its   elements,  an   influence   on  the  formation  or  on  the 
quality  of  a  secretion,  must,  in  regard   to   its  chemical 
character,  be  capable  of  taking  the  same  share  as  the 
nitrogenized  products  of  the  animal  body  do  in  the  for- 
mation of  the  bile  ;  that  is,  it  must  play  the  same  part 

*  This  consideration  or  comparative  view  has  led  lately  to  a  more 
accurate  investigation  of  the  composition  of  picrotoxine,  the  poison- 
ous principle  of  cocculus  indicus;  and  M.  Francis  has  discovered  the 
existence  of  nitrogen  in  it,  hitherto  overlooked,  and  has  also  deter- 
mined its  amount.  —  L. 


NITROGENIZED  COMPOUNDS.  169 

as  a  product  of  the  vital  process.  On  the  other  hand, 
a  non-azotized  medicinal  agent,  in  so  far  as  its  action 
affects  the  secretions,  must  be  capable  of  performing  in 
the  animal  body  the  same  part  as  that  which  we  have 
ascribed,  in  the  formation  of  the  bile,  to  the  non-azotized 
elements  of  food. 

Thus,  if  we  suppose  that  the  elements  of  hippuric  or 
uric  acids  are  derived  from  the  substance  of  the  organs 
in  which  vitality  resides  ;  that,  as  products  of  the  trans- 
formation of  these  organs,  they  lose  the  vital  character, 
without  losing  the  capacity  of  undergoing  changes  under 
the  influence  of  the  inspired  oxygen,  or  of  the  appara- 
tus of  secretion  ;  we  can  hardly  doubt  that  similar  ni- 
trogenized  compounds,  products  of  the  vital  process  in 
plants,  when  introduced  into  the  animal  body,  may  be 
employed  by  the  organism  exactly  in  the  same  way  as 
the  nitrogenized  products  of  the  metamorphosis  of  the 
animal  tissues  themselves.  If  hippuric  and  uric  acids, 
or  any  of  their  elements,  can  take  a  share,  for  example, 
in  the  formation  and  supply  of  bile,  we  must  allow  the 
same  power  to  other  analogous  nitrogenized  compounds. 

We  shall  never,  certainly,  be  able  to  discover  how 
men  were  led  to  the  use  of  the  hot  infusion  of  the  leaves 
of  a  certain  shrub  (tea),  or  of  a  decoction  of  certain 
roasted  seeds  (coffee).  Some  cause  there  must  be, 
which  would  explain  how  the  practice  has  become  a 
necessary  of  life  to  whole  nations.  But  it  is  surely 
still  more  remarkable,  that  the  beneficial  effects  of  both 
plants  on  the  health  must  be  ascribed  to  one  and  the 
same  substance,  the  presence  of  which  in  two  vegeta- 
15 


170  VEGETABLE  PRODUCTS:  CAFFEINE. 

bles,  belonging  to  different  natural  families,  and  the 
produce  of  different  quarters  of  the  globe,  could  hardly 
have  presented  itself  to  the  boldest  imagination.  Yet 
recent  researches  have  shown,  in  such  a  manner  as  to 
exclude  all  doubt,  that  caffeine,  the  peculiar  principle 
of  coffee,  and  theine,  that  of  tea,  are,  in  all  respects, 
identical. 

It  is  not  less  worthy  of  notice,  that  the  American 
Indian,  living  entirely  on  flesh,  discovered  for  himself, 
in  tobacco  smoke,  a  means  of  retarding  the  change  of 
matter  in  the  tissues  of  his  body,  and  thereby  of  mak- 
ing hunger  more  endurable  ;  and  that  he  cannot  with- 
stand the  action  of  brandy,  which,  acting  as  an  element 
of  respiration,  puts  a  stop  to  the  change  of  matter  by 
performing  the  function,  which  properly  belongs  to  the 
products  of  the  metamorphosed  tissues.  Tea  and  cof- 
fee were  originally  met  with  among  nations  whose  diet 
is  chiefly  vegetable. 

86.  Without  entering  minutely  into  the  medicinal 
action  of  caffeine  (theine) ,  it  will  surely  appear  a  most 
striking  fact,  even  if  we  were  to  deny  its  influence  on 
the  process  of  secretion,  that  this  substance,  with  the 
addition  of  oxygen  and  the  elements  of  water,  can  yield 
taurine,  the  nitrogenized  compound  peculiar  to  bile  : 

1  at.  caffeine  or  theine  =  C8N2HS  O2 

9  at.  water =  H9  O9 

9  at.  oxygen =  O9 

C8N2H14020  = 
==  2  at.  taurine =  2  (C4NH7O10) 

A  similar  relation  exists  in  the  case  of  the  peculiar 
principle  of  asparagus  and  of  althaea,  asparagine ;  which 


RELATION  OF  CAFFEINE  AND  ASPARAGINE.  171 

also,  by  the  addition   of  oxygen   and  the  elements  of 
water,  yields  the  elements  of  taurine  : 

1  at.  asparagine  =  C8N2H8  O6 
6  at.  water    .   .  =  H6  O6 

8  at.  oxygen     .  =  •  O8 

C8N2H14020 
=  2  at.  taurine     .  =  2  (C4NH7O10) 

The  addition  of  the  elements  of  water  and  of  a  cer- 
tain quantity  of  oxygen  to  the  elements  of  theobromine, 
the  characteristic  principle  of  the  cacao  bean  (theo- 
broma  cacao),  yields  the  elements  of  taurine  and  urea, 
of  taurine,  carbonic  acid,  and  ammonia,  or  of  taurine 
and  uric  acid  : 

1  at.  theobromine  C18N6H10O4  \        ... 

10    4   (      J  4  at.  taurine  .  .  C16N4H28O40 

&&  at.  Water     .     .     .  Xl2oV/22   /  ==  I    i  r^     in    n     r\ 

1       <  1  at.  urea  .  .   .  C2  N2H4  O2 
16  at.  oxygen    .    .  O16  ) 


C18N6H32042  &tf#t/fo 

or,— 

1  at.  theobromine  C18N6H10O4  \       t  4  at.  taurine  .   .   CI6N4H28O40 
24  at.  water  .    .   .  H24O24  >  =  <  2  at.  carbon,  acid  C2  O4 

16  at.  oxygen   .   .  O16 )       ( 2  at.  ammonia  .         N2H6 


8  at.  water  ...  H8  O8    >  = 


C18N6H34O44 

or,— 
1  at.  theobromine  C18N6HIOO4 

~~  ^  1  at.  uric  acid  .   C10N4H4  O6 


14  at.  oxygen 


C18N6H18026  C18N6H18026 


87.  To  see  how  the  action  of  caffeine,  asparagine, 
theobromine,  &c.,  may  be  explained,  we  must  call  to 
mind,  that  the  chief  constituent  of  the  bile  contains  only 
3-8  per  cent,  of  nitrogen,  of  which  only  the  half,  or  1*9 
per  cent.,  belongs  to  the  taurine. 

Bile  contains,   in  its   natural  state,  water  and   solid 


172        RELATION  OF  THEOBROMINE  TO  BILE  AND  URINE. 

matter,  in  the  proportion  of  90  parts  by  weight  of  the 
former  to  10  of  the  latter.  If  we  suppose  these  10 
parts  by  weight  of  solid  matter  to  be  choleic  acid,  with 
3-87  per  cent,  of  nitrogen,  then  100  parts  of  fresh  bile 
will  contain  0'171  parts  of  nitrogen  in  the  shape  of 
taurine.  Now  this  quantity  is  contained  in  0'6  parts 
of  caffeine  ;  or  S^ths  grains  of  caffeine  can  give  to 
an  ounce  of  bile  the  nitrogen  it  contains  in  the  form 
of  taurine.  If  an  infusion  of  tea  contain  no  more  than 
the  ^th  of  a  grain  of  caffeine,  still,  if  it  contribute  in 
point  of  fact  to  the  formation  of  bile,  the  action,  even 
of  such  a  quantity,  cannot  be  looked  upon  as  a  nullity. 
Neither  can  it  be  denied,  that,  in  the  case  of  an  excess 
of  non-azotized  food  and  a  deficiency  of  motion,  which 
is  required  to  cause  the  change  of  matter  in  the  tis- 
sues, and  thus  to  yield  the  nitrogenized  product  which 
enters  into  the  composition  of  the  bile  ;  that  in  such 
a  condition,  the  health  may  be  benefited  by  the  use 
of  compounds  which  are  capable  of  supplying  the  place 
of  the  nitrogenized  product  produced  in  the  healthy 
state  of  the  body,  and  essential  to  the  production  of  an 
important  element  of  respiration.  In  a  chemical  sense, 
—  and  it  is  this  alone  which  the  preceding  remarks  are 
intended  to  show,  —  caffeine  or  theine,  asparagine,  and 
theobromine,  are,  in  virtue  of  their  composition,  better 
adapted  to  this  purpose,  than  all  other  nitrogenized 
vegetable  principles.  The  action  of  these  substances, 
in  ordinary  circumstances,  is  not  obvious,  but  it  un- 
questionably exists. 

88.  With  respect  to  the  action  of  the  other  nitro- 


ACTION  OF  ALKALIES  ON  THE  NERVOUS  SYSTEM.        173 

genized  vegetable  principles,  such  as  quinine,  or  the 
alkaloids  of  opium,  &c.,  which  manifests  itself,  not  in 
the  processes  of  secretion,  but  in  phenomena  of  an- 
other kind,  physiologists  and  pathologists  entertain  no 
doubt,  that  it  is  exerted  chiefly  on  the  brain  and  nerves. 
This  action  is  commonly  said  to  be  dynamic,  —  that 
is,  it  accelerates,  or  retards,  or  alters  in  some  way  the 
phenomena  of  motion  in  animal  life.  If  we  reflect, 
that  this  action  is  exerted  by  substances  which  are 
material,  tangible,  and  ponderable  ;  that  they  disappear 
in  the  organism  ;  that  a  double  dose  acts  more  power- 
fully than  a  single  one  ;  that,  after  a  time,  a  fresh  dose 
must  be  given,  if  we  wish  to  produce  the  action  a 
second  time  ;  all  these  considerations,  viewed  chemi- 
cally, permit  only  one  form  of  explanation  ;  the  sup- 
position, namely,  that  these  compounds,  by  means  of 
their  elements,  take  a  share  in  the  formation  of  new, 
or  the  transformation  of  existing  brain  and  nervous 
matter. 

However  strange  the  idea  may,  at  first  sight,  appear, 
that  the  alkaloids  of  opium  or  of  cinchona  bark,  the 
elements  of  codeine,  morphia,  quinine,  &c.,  may  be 
converted  into  constituents  of  brain  and  nervous  matter, 
into  organs  of  vital  energy,  from  which  the  organic  mo- 
tions of  the  body  derive  their  origin  ;  that  these  sub- 
stances form  a  constituent  of  that  matter,  by  the  re- 
moval of  which  the  seat  of  intellectual  life,  of  sensation, 
and  of  consciousness,  is  annihilated  :  it  is,  nevertheless, 
certain,  that  all  these  forms  of  power  and  activity  are 
most  closely  dependent,  not  only  on  the  existence,  but 


174  COMPOSITION  AND  ORIGIN 

also  on  a  certain  quality  of  the  substance  of  the  brain, 
spinal  marrow,  and  nerves  ;  insomuch,  that  all  the  mani- 
festations of  the  life  or  vital  energy  of  these  modifica- 
tions of  nervous  matter,  which  are  recognised  as  the 
phenomena  of  motion,  sensation,  or  feeling,  assume  an- 
other form  as  soon  as  their  composition  is  altered.  The 
animal  organism  has  produced  the  brain  and  nerves  out 
of  compounds  furnished  to  it  by  vegetables  ;  it  is  the 
constituents  of  the  food  of  the  animal,  which,  in  conse- 
quence of  a  series  of  changes,  have  assumed  the  prop- 
erties and  the  structure  which  we  find  in  the  brain  and 
nerves. 

89.  If  it  must  be   admitted  as  an  undeniable  truth, 
that  the  substance  of  the  brain  and  nerves  is  produced 
from  the   elements  of  vegetable    albumen,   fibrine,   and 
caseine,  either  alone,  or  with  the  aid  of  the  elements  of 
non-azotized  food,  or  of  the  fat  formed  from  the  latter, 
there  is  nothing   absurd  in  the  opinion,  that  other  con- 
stituents of  vegetables,  intermediate  in  composition  be- 
tween the  fats  and  the  compounds  of  proteine,  may  be 
applied  in  the  organism  to  the  same  purpose. 

90.  According  to  the  researches  of  Fremy,  the  chief 
constituent,  of  the  fat  found  in  the  brain  is  a  compound 
of  soda  with  a  peculiar  acid,  the  cerebric  acid,  which 
contains,  in  100  parts, 

Carbon,  .                .                .           $•%••-•    66-7 

Hydrogen,  ..                .                .            '£•'*•'«.           1()'6 

Nitrogen,  .                .'           ^\               .          2-3 

Phosphorus,  .                .                .                .                  0-9 

Oxygen,  .                .             ,,f^.           .        19-5 

It  is  easy  to  see  that  the  composition  of  cerebric  acid 


OF  THE  NERVOUS  MATTER.  175 

differs  entirely,  both  from  that  of  ordinary  fats  and  of 
the  compounds  of  proteine.  Common  fats  contain  no 
nitrogen,  while  the  compounds  of  proteine  contain  nearly 
17  per  cent.  Leaving  the  phosphorus  out  of  view,  the 
composition  of  this  acid  approaches  most  nearly  to  .that 
of  choleic  acid,  although  these  two  compounds  are  quite 
distinct. 

91.  Brain  and  nervous  matter  is,  at  all  events,  formed 
in  a  manner  similar  to  that  in  which  bile  is  produced  ; 
either  by  the  separation  of  a  highly  nitrogenized  com- 
pound from  the  elements  of  blood,  or  by  the  combina- 
tion of  a  nitrogenized  product  of  the  vital  process  with  a 
non-azotized  compound  (probably,  a  fatty  body).  All 
that  has  been  said  in  the  preceding  pages  on  the  various 
possible  ways  by  which  the  bile  might  be  supposed  to  be 
formed,  all  the  conclusions  which  we  attained  in  regard 
to  the  cooperation  of  azotized  and  non-azotized  ele- 
ments of  food,  may  be  applied  with  equal  justice  and 
equal  probability  to  the  formation  and  production  of  the 
nervous  substance. 

We  must  not  forget,  that,  in  whatever  light  we  may 
view  the  vital  operations,  the  production  of  nervous 
matter  from  blood  presupposes  a  change  in  the  compo- 
sition and  qualities  of  the  constituents  of  blood.  That 
such  a  change  occurs  is  as  certain  as  that  the  existence 
of  the  nervous  matter  cannot  be  denied.  In  this  sense, 
we  must  assume,  that  from  a  compound  of  proteine  may 
be  formed  a  first,  second,  third,  &c.,  product,  before  a 
certain  number  of  its  elements  can  become  constituents 
of  the  nervous  matter  ;  and  it  must  be  considered  as 


176  RELATION  OF   VEGETABLE  ALKALIES. 

quite  certain,  that  a  product  of  the  vital  process  in  a 
plant,  introduced  into  the  blood,  will,  if  its  composition 
be  adapted  to  this  purpose,  supply  the  place  of  the  first, 
second,  or  third  product  of  the  alteration  of  the  com- 
pound of  proteine.  Indeed,  it  cannot  be  considered 
merely  accidental,  that  the  composition  of  the  most  ac- 
tive remedies,  namely,  the  vegetable  alkaloids,  cannot 
be  shown  to  be  related  to  that  of  any  constituent  of  the 
body,  except  only  the  substance  of  the  nerves  and  brain. 
All  of  these  contain  a  certain  quantity  of  nitrogen,  and, 
in  regard  to  their  composition,  they  are  intermediate  be- 
tween the  compounds  of  proteine  and  the  fats. 

92.  In  contradistinction  to  the  chemical  character, 
we  find  that  the  substance  of  the  brain  exhibits  the  char- 
acters of  an  acid.  It  contains  far  more  oxygen  than 
the  organic  bases  or  alkaloids.  We  observe,  that  quin- 
ine and  cinchonine,  morphia  and  codeine,  strychnia  and 
brucia,  which  are,  respectively,  so  nearly  alike  in  com- 
position, if  they  do  not  produce  absolutely  the  same 
effect,  yet  resemble  each  other  in  their  action  more  than 
those  which  differ  more  widely  in  composition.  We 
find,  that  their  energy  of  action  diminishes,  as  the 
amount  of  oxygen  they  contain  increases  (as  in  the  case 
of  narcotine),  and  that,  strictly  speaking,  no  one  of 
them  can  be  entirely  replaced  by  another.  There  can- 
not be  a  more  decisive  proof  of  the  nature  of  their  ac- 
tion than  this  last  fact ;  it  must  stand  in  the  closest  rela- 
tion to  their  composition.  If  these  compounds,  in  point 
of  fact,  are  capable  of  taking  a  share  in  the  formation  or 
in  the  alteration  of  the  qualities  of  brain  and  nervous 


RELATION  OF  VEGETABLE  ALKALIES.         177 

matter,  their  action  on  the  healthy  as  well  as  the  dis- 
eased organism  admits  of  a  surprisingly  simple  explana- 
tion. If  we  are  not  tempted  to  deny,  that  the  chief 
constituent  of  soup  may  be  applied  to  a  purpose  corre- 
sponding to  its  composition  in  the  human  body,  or  that 
the  organic  constituent  of  bones  may  be  so  employed  in 
the  body  of  the  dog,  although  that  substance  (gelatine  in 
both  cases)  is  absolutely  incapable  of  yielding  blood  ;  if, 
therefore,  nitrogenized  compounds,  totally  different  from 
the  compounds  of  proteine,  may  be  employed  for  pur- 
poses corresponding  to  their  composition ;  we  may 
thence  conclude  that  a  product  of  vegetable  life,  also 
different  from  proteine,  but  similar  to  a  constituent  of 
the  animal  body,  may  be  employed  by  the  organism  in 
the  same  way  and  for  the  same  purpose  as  the  natural 
product,  originally  formed  by  the  vital  energy  of  the 
animal  organs,  and  that,  indeed,  from  a  vegetable  sub- 
stance. 

The  time  is  not  long  gone  by,  when  we  had  not  the 
very  slightest  conception  of  the  cause  of  the  various 
effects  of  opium,  and  when  the  action  of  cinchona  bark 
was  shrouded  in  incomprehensible  obscurity.  Now 
that  we  know  that  these  effects  are  caused  by  crystalli- 
zable  compounds,  which  differ  as  much  in  composition 
as  in  their  action  on  the  system  ;  now  that  we  know  the 
substances  to  which  the  medicinal  or  poisonous  energy 
must  be  ascribed,  it  would  argue  only  want  of  sense  to 
consider  the  action  of  these  substances  inexplicable  ; 
and  to  do  so,  as  many  have  done,  because  they  act  in 


178  ACTION  OF  NITROGENIZED  PRODUCTS. 

very  minute  doses,  is  as  unreasonable  as  it  would  be  to 
judge  of  the  sharpness  of  a  razor  by  its  weight. 

93.  It  would  serve  no  purpose   to  give  these  con- 
siderations a  greater   extension  at  present.     However 
hypothetical  they  may  appear,  they  only  deserve  atten- 
tion in  so  far  as  they  point  out  the  way  which  chemistry 
pursues,  and  which  she  ought  not  to  quit,  if  she  would 
really  be  of  service  to  physiology  and  pathology.     The 
combinations  of   the  chemist  relate  to  the  change  of 
matter,  forwards  and  backwards,  to  the  conversion  of 
food  into  the  various  tissues  and  secretions,  and  to  their 
metamorphosis  into  lifeless  compounds  ;  his  investigations 
ought  to  tell  us  what  has  taken  place  and  what  can  take 
place  in  the  body.     It  is  singular  that  we  find  medicinal 
agencies  all  dependent  on  certain   matters,  which  differ 
in  composition  ;  and  if,  by  the   introduction   of  a  sub- 
stance, certain  abnormal  conditions  are  rendered  normal, 
it  will  be  impossible  to  reject  the  opinion,  that  this  phe- 
nomenon depends  on  a  change  in  the  composition  of  the 
constituents  of  the  diseased  organism,  a  change  in  which 
the  elements  of  the  remedy  take  a  share  ;  a  share  simi- 
lar to  that  which  the  vegetable   elements   of  food  have 
taken  in  the  formation   of  fat,    of  membranes,    of   the 
saliva,  of  the  seminal  fluid,  &c.     Their  carbon,  hydro- 
gen, or  nitrogen,  or  whatever  else  belongs  to  their  com- 
position, are  derived  from  the  vegetable  organism  ;  and, 
after    all,   the  action   and  effects  of  quinine,  morphia, 
and  the  vegetable  poisons  in  general,  are  no  hypotheses. 

94.  Thus,   as  we  may  say,  in   a  certain   sense,  of 
caffeine,  or  theine  and  asparagine,  &c.,  as  well  as  of 


NITROGENIZED  VEGETABLE  PRODUCTS.  179 

the  non-azotized  elements  of  food,  that  they  are  food 
for  the  liver,  since  they  contain  the  elements,  by  the 
presence  of  which  that  organ  is  enabled  to  perform  its 
functions,  so  we  may  consider  these  nitrogenized  com- 
pounds, so  remarkable  for  their  action  on  the  brain  and 
on  the  substance  of  the  organs  of  motion,  as  elements 
of  food  for  the  organs  as  yet  unknown,  which  are  des- 
tined for  the  metamorphosis  of  the  constituents  of  the 
blood  into  nervous  substance  and  brain.  Such  organs 
there  must  be  in  the  animal  body,  and  if,  in  the  diseased 
state,  an  abnormal  process  of  production  or  transforma- 
tion of  the  constituents  of  cerebral  and  nervous  matter 
has  been  established  ;  if,  in  the  organs  intended  for  this 
purpose,  the  power  of  forming  that  matter  out  of  the 
constituents  of  blood,  or  the  power  of  resisting  an 
abnormal  degree  of  activity  in  its  decomposition  or 
transformation,  has  been  diminished  ;  then,  in  a  chemi- 
cal sense,  there  is  no  objection  to  the  opinion,  that 
substances  of  a  composition  analogous  to  that  of  ner- 
vous and  cerebral  matter,  and,  consequently,  adapted 
to  form  that  matter,  may  be  employed,  instead  of  the 
substances  produced  from  the  blood,  either  to  furnish 
the  necessary  resistance,  or  to  restore  the  normal  con- 
dition. 

95.  Some  physiologists  and  chemists  have  expressed 
doubts  of  the  peculiar  and  distinct  character  of  cerebric 
acid,  a  substance  which,  from  its  amount  of  carbon  and 
hydrogen,  and  from  its  external  characters,  resembles  a 
nitrogenized  fatty  acid.  But  a  nitrogenized  fat,  having 
an  acid  character,  is,  in  fact,  no  anomaly.  Hippuric 


180  PHOSPHORUS  SEEMS  ESSENTIAL 

acid  is  in  many  of  its  characters  very  similar  to  the 
fatty  acids,  but  is  essentially  distinguished  from  them  by 
containing  nitrogen.  The  organic  constituents  of  bile 
resemble  the  acid  resins  in  physical  characters,  and  yet 
contain  nitrogen.  The  organic  alkalies  are  intermediate 
in  their  physical  characters  between  the  fats  and  resins, 
and  they  all  contain  nitrogen.  A  nitrogenized  fatty  acid 
is  as  little  improbable  as  the  existence  of  a  nitrogenized 
resin  with  the  characters  of  a  base. 

96.  An  accurate  investigation  would  probably  dis- 
cover differences  in  the  composition  of  the  brain,  spinal 
marrow,  and  nerves.  According  to  the  observations 
of  Valentin,  the  quality  of  the  cerebral  and  nervous 
substance  is  very  rapidly  altered  from  the  period  of 
death,  and  very  uncommon  precautions  would  be  re- 
quired for  the  separation  of  foreign  matters,  not  prop- 
erly belonging  to  the  substance  of  the  spinal  marrow  or 
brain.  But,  however  difficult  it  may  appear,  the  inves- 
tigation seems  yet  to  be  practicable.  We  know,  in  the 
mean  time,  that  all  experience  is  against  the  notion  of 
a  large  amount  of  carbon  and  hydrogen  in  the  substance 
of  the  brain.  The  absence  of  nitrogen  as  an  element 
of  the  cerebral  and  nervous  matter,  appears,  at  all 
events,  improbable.  This  substance,  moreover,  can- 
not be  classed  with  ordinary  fats,  because  we  find  the 
cerebric  acid  combined  with  soda,  whereas,  all  fats  are 
compounds  of  fatty  acids  with  oxide  of  glycerule.  In 
regard  to  the  phosphorus  of  the  brain,  we  can  only 
guess  as  to  the  form  in  which  the  phosphorus  exists. 
Walchner  observed  recently,  that  bubbles  of  spontane- 


TO  THE  NERVOUS  MATTER.  181 

ously  inflammable  phosphuretted  hydrogen  were  disen- 
gaged from  the  trough  of  a  spring  in  Carlsruhe,  on 
the  bottom  of  which  fish  had  putrefied  ;  and  gases 
containing  phosphorus  have  also  been  observed  among 
the  products  of  the  putrefaction  of  tjie  brain.* 

*  The  curator  of  the  museum  at  Geneva  gave  to  M.  Leroyer, 
apothecary,  a  large  quantity  of  spirit  of  wine,  which  had  been  used 
for  the  preservation  of  fishes,  and  which  he  undertook  to  purify.  He 
distilled  it  from  a  mixture  of  chloride  of  calcium  and  quicklime,  and 
evaporated  the  residue  in  the  air,  over  a  fire.  As  soon  as  the  mass 
had  acquired  a  certain  consistence,  and  a  higher  temperature,  a  pro- 
digious quantity  of  spontaneously  inflammable  phosphuretted  hydro- 
gen was  disengaged.  (Dumas,  V.  867.) 


16 


PART  III. 

THE 

PHENOMENA  OF  MOTION 

IN   THE 

• 

ANIMAL   ORGANISM. 


THE 

PHENOMENA  OF  MOTION 

IN    THE 

ANIMAL   ORGANISM. 


I. 

IT  might  appear  an  unprofitable  task  to  add  one  more 
to  the  innumerable  forms  under  which  the  human  intel- 
lect has  viewed  the  nature  and  essence  of  that  peculiar 
cause,  which  must  be  considered  as  the  ultimate  source 
of  the  phenomena  which  characterize  vegetable  and 
animal  life,  were  it  not  that  certain  conceptions  present 
themselves  as  necessary  deductions  from  the  views  on 
this  subject  developed  in  the  introduction  to  the  first 
part  of  this  work.  The  following  pages  will  be  devoted 
to  a  more  detailed  examination  of  these  deductions.  It 
must  be  admitted  here,  that  all  these  conclusions  will 
lose  their  force  and  significance,  if  it  can  be  proved  that 
the  cause  of  vital  activity  has,  in  its  manifestations, 
nothing  in  common  with  other  known  causes  which 
produce  motion  or  change  of  form  and  structure  in 
matter. 

But  a  comparison  of  its  peculiarities  with  the  modus 
operandi  of  these  other  causes,  cannot,  at  all  events, 
fail  to  be  advantageous,  inasmuch  as  the  nature  and 
16* 


186  THE  PHENOMENA  OF  MOTION 

essence  of  natural  phenomena  are  recognisable,  not  by 
abstraction,  but  only  by  comparative  observations. 

If  the  vital  phenomena  be  considered  as  manifesta- 
tions of  a  peculiar  force,  then  the  effects  of  this  force 
must  be  regulated  by  certain  laws,  which  laws  may  be 
investigated ;  and  these  laws  must  be  in  harmony  with 
the  universal  laws  of  resistance  and  motion,  which  pre- 
serve in  their  courses  the  worlds  of  our  own  and  other 
systems,  and  which  also  determine  changes  of  form  and 
structure  in  material  bodies  ;  altogether  independent 
of  the  matter  in  which  vital  activity  appears  to  reside, 
or  of  the  form  in  which  vitality  is  manifested. 

The  vital  force  in  a  living  animal  tissue  appears  as  a 
cause  of  growth  in  the  mass,  and  of  resistance  to  those 
external  agencies  which  tend  to  alter  the  form,  struc- 
ture, and  composition  of  the  substance  of  the  tissue  in 
which  the  vital  energy  resides. 

This  force  further  manifests  itself  as  a  cause  of  mo- 
tion and  of  change  in  the  form  and  structure  of  material 
substances,  by  the  disturbance  and  abolition  of  the  state 
of  rest  in  which  those  chemical  forces  exist,  by  which 
the  elements  of  the  compounds  conveyed  to  the  living 
tissues,  in  the  form  of  food,  are  held  together. 

The  vital  force  causes  a  decomposition  of  the  con- 
stituents of  food,  and  destroys  the  force  of  attraction 
which  is  continually  exerted  between  their  molecules  ; 
it  alters  the  direction  of  the  chemical  forces  in  such 
wise,  that  the  elements  of  the  constituents  of  food  ar- 
range themselves  in  another  form,  and  combine  to  pro- 
duce new  compounds,  either  identical  in  composition 


IN  THE  ANIMAL  ORGANISM.  187 

with  the  living  tissues,  or  differing  from  them  ;  it  further 
changes  the  direction  and  force  of  the  attraction  of  co- 
hesion, destroys  the  cohesion  of  the  nutritious  com- 
pounds, and  forces  the  new  compounds  to  assume  forms 
altogether  different  from  those  which  are  the  result  of 
the  attraction  of  cohesion  when  acting  freely,  that  is, 
without  resistance. 

The  vital  force  is  also  manifested  as  a  force  of  at- 
traction, inasmuch  as*  the  new  compound  produced  by 
the  change  of  form  and  structure  in  the  food,  when  it 
has  a  composition  identical  with  that  of  the  living  tissue, 
becomes  a  part  of  that  tissue. 

Those  newly-formed  compounds,  whose  composition 
differs  from  that  of  the  living  tissue,  are  removed  from 
the  situation  in  which  they  are  formed,  and,  in  the  shape 
of  certain  secretions,  being  carried  to  other  parts  of 
the  body,  undergo  in  contact  with  these  a  series  of  anal- 
ogous changes. 

The  vital  force  is  manifested  in  the  form  of  resis- 
tance, inasmuch  as  by  its  presence  in  the  living  tissues, 
their  elements  acquire  the  power  of  withstanding  the 
disturbance  and  change  in  their  form  and  composition, 
which  external  agencies  tend  to  produce  ;  a  power 
which,  simply  as  chemical  compounds,  they  do  not 
possess. 

As  in  the  case  of  other  forces,  the  conception  of  an 
unequal  intensity  of  the  vital  force  comprehends  not 
only  an  unequal  capacity  for  growth  in  the  mass,  and  an 
unequal  power  of  overcoming  chemical  resistance,  but 
also  an  inequality  in  the  amount  of  that  resistance  which 


188  THE  PHENOMENA  OF  MOTION 

the  parts  or  constituents  of  the  living  tissue  oppose  to 
a  change  in  their  form  and  composition,  from  the  action 
of  new  external  active  causes  of  change ;  just  as  the 
force  of  cohesion  or  of  affinity  is  in  direct  proportion  to 
the  resistance  which  these  forces  oppose  to  any  external 
cause,  mechanical  or  chemical,  tending  to  separate  the 
molecules,  or  the  elements  of  an  existing  compound. 

The  manifestations  of  the  vital  force  are  dependent 
on  a  certain  form  of  the  tissue  in  which  it  resides,  as 
well  as  on  a  fixed  composition  in  the  substance  of  the 
living  tissue. 

The  capacity  of  growth  in  a  living  tissue  is  deter- 
mined by  the  immediate  contact  with  matters  adapted 
to  a  certain  decomposition,  or  the  elements  of  which 
are  capable  of  becoming  component  parts  of  the  tissue 
in  which  vitality  resides. 

The  phenomenon  of  growth,  or  increase  in  the  mass, 
presupposes  that  the  acting  vital  force  is  more  powerful 
than  the  resistance  which  the  chemical  force  opposes  to 
the  decomposition  or  transformation  of  the  elements  of 
the  food. 

The  manifestations  of  the  vital  force  are  dependent 
on  a  certain  temperature.  Neither  in  a  plant  nor  in  an 
animal  do  vital  phenomena  occur  when  the  temperature 
is  lowered  to  a  certain  extent. 

The  phenomena  of  vitality  in  a  living  organism  di- 
minish in  intensity  when  heat  is  abstracted,  provided  the 
lost  heat  be  not  restored  by  other  causes. 

Deprivation  of  food  soon  puts  a  stop  to  all  manifes- 
tations of  vitality. 


IN  THE  ANIMAL  ORGANISM.  189 

The  contact  of  the  living  tissues  with  the  elements  of 
nutrition  is  determined  in  the  animal  body  by  a  me- 
chanical force  produced  within  the  body,  which  gives  to 
certain  organs  the  power  of  causing  change  of  place, 
of  producing  motion,  and  of  overcoming  mechanical 
resistance. 

We  may  communicate  motion  to  a  body  at  rest  by 
means  of  a  number  of  forces,  very  different  in  their 
manifestations.  Thus,  a  time-piece  may  be  set  in 
motion  by  a  falling  weight  (gravitation),  or  by  a  bent 
spring  (elasticity) .  Every  kind  of  motion  may  be  pro- 
duced by  the  electric  or  magnetic  force,  as  well  as  by 
chemical  attraction  ;  while  we  cannot  say,  as  long  as 
we  only  consider  the  manifestation  of  these  forces  in  the 
phenomenon  or  result  produced,  which  of  these  various 
causes  of  change  of  place  has  set  the  body  in  motion. 

In  the  animal  organism  we  are  acquainted  with  only 
one  cause  of  motion  ;  and.  this  is  the  same  cause  which 
determines  the  growth  of  living  tissues,  and  gives  them 
the  power  of  resistance  to  external  agencies  ;  it  is  the 
vital  force. 

In  order  to  attain  a  clear  conception  of  these  mani- 
festations of  the  vital  force,  so  different  in  form,  we 
must  bear  in  mind,  that  every  known  force  is  recognised 
by  two  conditions  of  activity,  entirely  different  in  the 
phenomena  they  offer  to  the  attention  of  the  observer. 

The  force  of  gravitation  inherent  in  the  particles  of  a 
stone,  gives  to  them  a  continual  tendency  to  move 
towards  the  centre  of  the  earth. 

This  effect  of  gravitation  becomes  inappreciable  to 


190  THE  PHENOMENA  OF  MOTION 

the  senses  when  the  stone,  for  example,  rests  upon  a 
table,  the  particles  of  which  oppose  a  resistance  to  the 
manifestation  of  its  gravitation.  The  force  of  gravity, 
however,  is  constantly  present,  and  manifests  itself  as  a 
pressure  on  the  supporting  body  ;  but  the  stone  remains 
at  rest ;  it  has  no  motion.  The  manifestation  of  its 
gravity  in  the  state  of  rest,  we  call  its  weight. 

That  which  prevents  the  stone  from  falling  is  a  re- 
sistance produced  by  the  force  of  attraction,  by  which 
the  particles  of  the  wood  cohere  together  ;  a  mass  of 
water  would  not  prevent  the  fall  of  the  stone. 

If  the  force  which  impelled  the  mass  of  the  stone 
towards  the  centre  of  the  earth  were  greater  than  the 
force  of  cohesion  in  the  particles  of  the  wood,  the  latter 
would  be  overcome  ;  it  would  be  unable  to  prevent  the 
fall  of  the  stone. 

When  we  remove  the  support,  and  with  it  the  force 
which  has  prevented  the  manifestation  of  the  force 
of  gravity,  the  latter  at  once  appears  as  the  cause  of 
change  of  place  in  the  stone,  which  acquires  motion,  or 
falls.  Resistance  is  invariably  the  result  of  a  force  in 
action. 

According  as  the  stone  is  allowed  to  fall  during  a 
longer  or  shorter  time,  it  acquires  properties  which  it  had 
not  while  at  rest ;  it  acquires,  for  example,  the  power 
of  overcoming  more  feeble  or  more  powerful  obstacles, 
or  that  of  communicating  motion  to  bodies  in  a  state 
of  rest. 

If  it  fall  from  a  certain  height  it  makes  a  permanent 
impression  on  the  spot  on  which  it  falls  ;  if  it  fall  from  a 


IN  THE  ANIMAL  ORGANISM.  191 

still  greater  height  (during  a  longer  time)  it  perforates 
the  table  ;  its  own  motion  is  communicated  to  a  certain 
number  of  the  particles  of  the  wood  which  now  fall 
along  with  the  stone  itself.  The  stone,  while  at  rest, 
possessed  none  of  these  properties. 

The  velocity  of  the  falling  body  is  always  the  effect 
of  the  moving  force,  and  is,  ceteris  paribus,  propor- 
tional to  the  force  of  gravitation. 

A  body,  falling  freely,  acquires  at  the  end  of  one 
second  a  velocity  of  30  feet.  The  same  body,  if  fall- 
ing on  the  moon,  would  acquire  in  one  second  only  a 
velocity  of  s3B°0ths  of  a  foot  =  1  inch,  because,  in  the 
moon,  the  intensity  of  gravitation  (the  pressure  acting 
on  the  body,  the  moving  power)  is  360  times  smaller. 

If  the  pressure  continue  uniform,  the  velocity  is  di- 
rectly proportional  to  it ;  so  that,  for  example,  the 
body  falling  360  times  slower,  will,  after  360  seconds, 
have  the  same  velocity  as  the  other  body  after  one 
second. 

Consequently  the  effect  is  proportional,  not  to  the 
moving  force  alone,  nor  to  the  time  alone,  but  to  the 
pressure  multiplied  into  the  time,  which  is  called  the 
momentum  of  force. 

In  two  equal  masses  the  velocity  expresses  the  mo- 
mentum of  force.  But  under  the  same  pressure  a  body 
moves  more  slowly  as  its  mass  is  greater  ;  a  mass  twice 
as  great  requires,  in  order  to  attain  in  the  same  time  an 
equal  velocity,  twice  the  pressure  ;  or,  under  the  single 
pressure,  it  must  continue  in  motion  twice  as  long. 

In  order,  therefore,  to  have  an  expression   for   the 


192  THE  PHENOMENA  OF  MOTION 

whole  effect  produced,  we  must  multiply  the  mass  into 
the  velocity.  This  product  is  called  the  amount  of 
motion. 

The  amount  of  motion  in  a  given  body  must  in  all 
cases  correspond  exactly  to  the  momentum  of  force. 

These  two,  the  amount  of  motion  and  the  momentum 
of  force,  are  also  called  simply  force;  because  we  sup- 
pose that  a  less  pressure  acting,  for  example,  during  10 
seconds,  is  equal  to  a  pressure  ten  times  greater,  acting 
only  during  one  second. 

The  momentum  of  motion,  in  mechanics,  signifies  the 
effect  of  a  moving  force,  without  reference  to  the  time 
(velocity)  in  which  it  was  manifested.  If  one  man,  for 
example,  raises  30  Ibs.  to  a  height  of  100  feet,  and  a 
second  one  30  Ibs.  to  a  height  of  200  feet,  then  the  lat- 
ter has  expended  twice  as  much  force  as  the  former. 
A  third  who  raises  60  Ibs.  to  a  height  of  50  feet,  ex- 
pends no  more  force  than  the  first  did  in  raising  30  Ibs. 
to  the  height  of  100  feet.  The  momentum  of  motion 
of  the  first  (30X100)  is  equal  to  that  of  the  third 
(60X50),  while  that  of  the  second  (30X200)  is  twice 
as  great. 

Momentum  of  force  and  momentum  of  motion,  in 
mechanics,  are  therefore  expressions  or  measures  for 
effects  of  force,  having  reference  to  the  velocity  attained 
in  a  given  time,  or  to  a  given  space  ;  and  in  this  sense 
they  may  be  applied  to  the  effects  of  all  other  causes  of 
motion,  or  of  change  in  form  and  structure,  howevei 
great  or  however  small  may  be  the  space  or  the  time  in 
which  their  effects  are  displayed  to  the  senses. 


IN   THE   ANIMAL   ORGANISM.  193 

Every  force,  therefore,  exhibits  itself  in  matter  either 
in  the  form  of  resistance  to  external  causes  of  motion, 
or  of  change  in  form  and  structure  ;  or  as  a  moving 
force  when  no  resistance  is  opposed  to  it  ;  or,  finally, 
in  overcoming  resistance. 

One  and  the  same  force  communicates  motion  and 
destroys  motion  ;  the  former,  when  its  manifestations 
are  opposed  by  no  resistance  ;  the  latter,  when  it  puts 
a  stop  to  the  manifestation  of  some  other  cause  of  mo- 
tion, or  of  change  in  form  and  structure.  Equilibrium 
or  rest  is  that  state  of  activity  in  which  one  force  or 
momentum  of  motion  is  destroyed  by  an  opposite  force 
or  momentum  of  motion. 

We  observe  both  these  manifestations  of  activity  in 
that  force  which  gives  to  the  living  tissues  their  pecu- 
liar properties. 

The  vital  force  appears  as  a  moving  force  or  cause 
of  motion  when  it  overcomes  the  chemical  forces  (co- 
hesion and  affinity)  which  act  between  the  constituents 
of  food,  and  when  it  changes  the  position  or  place  in 
which  their  elements  occur  ;  it  is  manifested  as  a  cause 
of  motion  in  overcoming  the  chemical  attraction  of  the 
constituents  of  food,  and  is,  further,  the  cause  which 
compels  them  to  combine  in  a  new  arrangement,  and  to 
assume  new  forms. 

It  is  plain,  that  a  part  of  the  animal  body  possessed 
of  vitality,  which  has  therefore  the  power  of  over- 
coming resistance,  and  of  giving  motion  to  the  elemen- 
tary particles  of  the  food,  by  means  of  the  vital  force 
17 


194  THE   PHENOMENA   OF   MOTION 

manifested  in  itself,  must  have  a  momentum  of  motion, 
which  is  nothing  else  than  the  measure  of  the  resulting 
motion  or  change  in  form  and  structure. 

We  know  that  this  momentum  of  motion  in  the  vital 
force,  residing  in  a  living  part,  may  be  employed  in 
giving  motion  to  bodies  at  rest  (that  is,  in  causing  de- 
composition, or  overcoming  resistance),  and  if  the  vital 
force  is  analogous  in  its  manifestations  to  other  forces, 
this  momentum  of  motion  must  be  capable  of  being 
conveyed  or  communicated  by  matters,  which  in  them- 
selves do  not  destroy  its  effect  by  an  opposite  manifes- 
tation of  force. 

Motion,  by  whatever  cause  produced,  cannot  in  it- 
self be  annihilated  ;  it  may,  indeed,  become  inappre- 
ciable to  the  senses,  but  even  when  arrested  by  resist- 
ance (by  the  manifestation  of  an  opposite  force)  its 
effect  is  not  annihilated.  The  falling  stone,  by  means 
of  the  amount  of  motion  acquired  in  its  descent,  pro- 
duces an  effect  when  it  reaches  the  table.  The  im- 
pression made  on  the  wood,  the  velocity  communicated 
by  its  parts  to  those  of  the  wood,  —  all  this  is  its 
effect. 

If  we  transfer  the  conceptions  of  motion,  equili- 
brium, and  resistance,  to  the  chemical  forces,  which, 
in  their  modus  operandi,  approach  to  the  vital  force 
infinitely  nearer  than  gravitation  does,  we  know  with 
the  utmost  certainty,  that  they  are  active  only  in  the 
case  of  immediate  contact.  We  know,  also,  that  the 
unequal  capacity  of  chemical  compounds  to  offer  re- 


IN  THE   ANIMAL   ORGANISM.  195 

sistance  to  external,  disturbing  influences,  to  those  of 
heat,  or  of  electricity,  which  tend  to  separate  their 
particles,  as  well  as  their  power  of  overcoming  resist- 
ance in  other  compounds  (of  causing  decomposition)  ; 
that,  in  a  word,  the  active  force  in  a  compound  de- 
pends on  a  certain  order  or  arrangement,  in  which  its 
elementary  particles  touch  each  other. 

The  same  elements,  united  in  a  different  order,  when 
in  contact  with  other  compounds,  exert  a  most  unequal 
power  of  offering  or  overcoming  resistance.  In  one 
form  the  force  manifested  is  available  (the  body  is  ac- 
tive, an  acid,  for  example)  ;  in  another  not  (the  body 
is  indifferent,  neutral)  ;  in  a  third  form,  the  momentum 
of  force  is  opposed  to  that  of  the  first  (the  body  is 
active,  but  a  base). 

If  we  alter  the  arrangement  of  the  elements,  we  are 
able  to  separate  the  constituents  of  a  compound  by 
means  of  another  active  body  ;  while  the  same  ele- 
ments, united  in  their  original  order,  would  have  op- 
posed an  invincible  resistance  to  the  action  of  the 
decomposing  agent. 

In  the  same  way  as  two  equal  inelastic  masses,  im- 
pelled with  equal  velocity  from  opposite  points,  on 
coming  into  contact  are  brought  to  rest ;  in  the  same 
way,  therefore,  as  two  equal  and  opposite  momenta 
of  motion  mutually  destroy  each  other  ;  so  may  the 
momentum  of  force  in  a  chemical  compound  be  de- 
stroyed in  whole  or  in  part  by  an  equal  or  unequal, 
and  opposite  momentum  of  force  in  a  second  com- 


196  THE   PHENOMENA  OF  MOTION 

pound.  But  it  cannot  be  annihilated  as  long  as  the 
arrangement  of  the  elementary  particles,  by  which  its 
inherent  force  was  manifested,  is  not  changed. 

The  chemical  force  of  sulphuric  acid  is  present  in 
sulphate  of  lime  as  entire  as  in  oil  of  vitriol.  It  is 
not  appreciable  by  the  senses  ;  but  if  the  cause  be 
removed  which  prevented  its  manifestation,  it  appears 
in  its  full  force  in  the  compound  in  which  it  properly 
resides. 

Thus  the  force  of  cohesion  in  a  solid  may  disappear, 
to  the  senses,  from  the  action  of  a  chemical  force  (in 
solution),  or  of  heat  (in  fusion),  without  being  in  re- 
ality annihilated  or  even  weakened.  If  we  remove  the 
opposing  force  or  resistance,  the  force  of  cohesion  ap- 
pears unchanged  in  crystallization. 

By  means  of  the  electrical  force,  or  that  of  heat, 
we  can  give  the  most  varied  directions  to  the  manifes- 
tations of  chemical  force.  By  these  means  we  can 
fix,  as  it  were,  the  order  in  which  the  elementary 
particles  shall  unite.  Let  us  remove  the  cause  (heat 
or  electricity)  which  has  turned  the  balance  in  favor 
of  the  weaker  attraction  in  one  direction,  and  the 
stronger  attraction  will  show  itself  continually  active  in 
another  direction  ;  and  if  this  stronger  attraction  can 
overcome  the  vis  inertiae  of  the  elementary  particles, 
they  will  unite  in  a  new  form,  and  a  new  compound  of 
different  properties  must  be  the  result. 

In   compounds    of  this    kind,    in    which,    therefore, 
the  free  manifestation   of  the  chemical  force  has  been 


IN   THE  ANIMAL  ORGANISM.  197 

impeded  by  other  forces,  a  blow,  or  mechanical  fric- 
tion, or  the  contact  of  a  substance,  the  particles  of 
which  are  in  a  state  of  motion  (decomposition,  trans- 
formation), or  any  external  cause,  whose  activity  is 
added  to  the  stronger  attraction  of  the  elementary  par- 
ticles in  another  direction,  may  suffice  to  give  the  pre- 
ponderance to  this  stronger  attraction,  to  overcome  the 
vis  inertia?,  to  alter  the  form  and  structure  of  the  com- 
pound, which  are  the  result  of  foreign  causes,  and  to 
produce  the  resolution  of  the  compound  into  one  or 
more  new  compounds  with  altered  properties. 

Transformations,  or,  as  they  may  be  called,  phe- 
nomena of  motion,  in  compounds  of  this  class,  may 
be  effected  by  means  of  the  free  and  available  chemi- 
cal force  of  another  chemical  compound,  and  that  with- 
out its  manifestation  being  enfeebled  or  arrested  by 
resistance.  Thus  the  equilibrium  in  the  attraction  be- 
tween the  elements  of  cane-sugar*is  destroyed  by  con- 
tact with  a  very  small  quantity  of  sulphuric  acid,  and 
it  is  converted  into  grape-sugar.  In  the  same  way 
we  see  the  elements  of  starch,  under  the  same  influ- 
ence, arrange  themselves  with  those  of  water  in  a  new 
form,  while  the  sulphuric  acid,  which  has  served  to 
produce  these  transformations,  loses  nothing  of  its 
chemical  character.  In  regard  to  other  substances  on 
which  it  acts,  it  remains  as  active  as  before,  exactly 
as  if  it  had  exerted  no  sort  of  influence  on  the  cane- 
sugar  or  starch. 

In  contradistinction  to  the  manifestations  of  the  so- 
17* 


198  THE   PHENOMENA    OF   MOTION 

called  mechanical  forces,  we  have  recognised  in  the 
chemical  forces  causes  of  motion  and  of  change  in  form 
and  structure,  without  any  observable  exhaustion  of 
the  force  by  which  these  phenomena  are  produced  ; 
but  the  origin  of  the  continued  manifestation  of  activity 
remains  still  the  same  ;  it  is  the  absence  of  an  opposite 
force  (a  resistance)  capable  of  neutralizing  it  or  bring- 
ing it  into  the  state  of  equilibrium. 

As  the  manifestations  of  chemical  forces  (the  mo- 
mentum of  force  in  a  chemical  compound)  seem  to 
depend  on  a  certain  order  in  which  the  elementary  par- 
ticles are  united  together,  so  experience  tells  us,  that 
the  vital  phenomena  are  inseparable  from  matter  ;  that 
the  manifestations  of  the  vital  force  in  a  living  part  are 
determined  by  a  certain  form  of  that  part,  and  by  a 
certain  arrangement  of  its  elementary  particles.  If  we 
destroy  the  form,  or  alter  the  composition  of  the  organ, 
all  manifestations  of  vitality  disappear. 

There  is  nothing  to  prevent  us  from  considering  the 
vital  force  as  a  peculiar  property,  which  is  possessed 
by  certain  material  bodies,  and  becomes  sensible  when 
their  elementary  particles  are  combined  in  a  certain 
arrangement  or  form. 

This  supposition  takes  from  the  vital  phenomena 
nothing  of  their  wonderful  peculiarity  ;  it  may  there- 
fore be  considered  as  a  resting  point,  from  which  an 
investigation  into  these  phenomena,  and  the  laws  which 
regulate  them,  may  be  commenced  ;  exactly  as  we 
consider  the  properties  and  laws  of  light  to  be  depend- 


IN  THE    ANIMAL   ORGANISM.  199 

ent  on  a  certain  luminiferous  matter,  or  ether,  which 
has  no  further  connexion  with  the  laws  ascertained  by 
investigation. 

Considered  under  this  form,  the  vital  force  unites  in 
its  manifestations  all  the  peculiarities  of  chemical  forces, 
and  of  the  not  less  wonderful  cause,  which  we  regard 
as  the  ultimate  origin  of  electrical  phenomena. 

The  vital  force  does  not  act,  like  the  force  of  gravi- 
tation or  the  magnetic  force,  at  infinite  distances,  but, 
like  chemical  forces,  it  is  active  only  in  the  case  of  im- 
mediate contact.  It  becomes  sensible  by  means  of  an 
aggregation  of  material  particles. 

A  living  part  acquires,  on  the  above  supposition,  the 
capacity  of  offering  and  of  overcoming  resistance,  by 
the  combination  of  its  elementary  particles  in  a  certain 
form  ;  and  as  long  as  its  form  and  composition  are  not 
destroyed  by  opposing  forces,  it  must  retain  its  energy 
uninterrupted  and  unimpaired. 

When,  by  the  act  of  manifestation  of  this  energy  in 
a  living  part,  the  elements  of  the  food  are  made  to 
unite  in  the  same  form  and  structure  as  the  living  organ 
possesses,  then  these  elements  acquire  the  same  powers. 
By  this  combination,  the  vital  force  inherent  in  them  is 
enabled  to  manifest  itself  freely,  and  may  be  applied  in 
the  same  way  as  that  of  the  previously  existing  tissue. 

If,  now,  we  bear  in  mind,  that  all  matters  which 
serve  as  food  to  living  organisms  are  compounds  of  two 
or  more  elements,  which  are  kept  together  by  certain 
chemical  forces  ;  if  we  reflect  that  in  the  act  of  mani- 


200  THE  PHENOMENA   OF  MOTION 

festation  of  force  in  a  living  tissue,  the  elements  of  the 
food  are  made  to  combine  in  a  new  order  ;  —  it  is  quite 
certain  that  the  momentum  of  force  or  of  motion  in  the 
vital  force  was  more  powerful  than  the  chemical  attrac- 
tion existing  between  the  elements  of  the  food.* 

The  chemical  force  which  >kept  the  elements  together 
acted  as  a  resistance,  which  was  overcome  by  the  ac- 
tive vital  force. 

Had  both  forces  been  equal,  no  kind  of  sensible 
effect  would  have  ensued.  Had  the  chemical  force 
been  the  stronger,  the  living  part  would  have  undergone 
a  change. 

If  we  now  suppose  that  a  certain  amount  of  vital 
force  must  have  been  expended  in  bringing  to  an  equi- 
librium the  chemical  force,  there  must  still  remain  an 
excess  of  force,  by  which  the  decomposition  was  ef- 
fected. This  excess  constitutes  the  momentum  of 
force  in  the  living  part,  by  means  of  which  the  change 
was  produced  ;  by  means  of  this  excess  the  part  ac- 
quires a  permanent  power  of  causing  further  decompo- 
sitions, and  of  retaining  its  condition,  form,  and  struc- 
ture, in  opposition  to  external  agencies. 

We  may  imagine  this  excess  to  be  removed,  and 
employed  in  some  other  form.  This  would  not  of  it- 

*  The  hands  of  a  man,  who  raises  with  a  rope  and  simple  pulley, 
30  Ibs.  to  the  height  of  100  feet,  pass  over  a  space  of  100  feet,  while 
his  muscular  energy  furnishes  the  equilibrium  to  a  pressure  of  30  Ibs. 
Were  the  force  which  the  man  could  exert  not  greater  than  would 
suffice  to  keep  in  equilibrium  a  pressure  of  30  Ibs.,  he  would  be  una- 
ble to  i-aise  the  weight  to  the  height  mentioned. 


IN  THE   ANIMAL  ORGANISM.  201 

self  endanger  the  existence  of  the  living  part,  because 
the  opposing  forces  would  be  left  in  equilibrio  ;  but,  by 
the  removal  of  the  excess  of  force,  the  part  would  lose 
its  capacity  of  growth,  its  power  to  cause  further  de- 
compositions, and  its  ability  to  resist  external  causes  of 
change.  If,  in  this  state  of  equilibrium,  oxygen  (a 
chemical  agent)  should  be  brought  in  contact  with  it, 
then  there  would  be  no  resistance  to  the  tendency  of 
the  oxygen  to  combine  with  some  element  of  the  living 
part,  because  its  power  of  resistance  has  been  taken 
away  by  some  other  application  of  its  excess  of  vital 
force.  According  to  the  amount  of  oxygen  brought  to 
it,  a  certain  proportion  of  the  living  part  would  lose  its 
condition  of  vitality,  and  take  the  form  of  a  chemical 
combination,  having  a  composition  different  from  that 
of  the  living  tissue.  In  a  word,  there  would  occur  a 
change  in  the  properties  of  the  living  compound,  or 
what  we  have  called  a  change  of  matter. 

If  we  reflect  that  the  capacity  of  growth  or  increase 
of  mass  in  plants  is  almost  unlimited  ;  that  a  hundred 
twigs  from  a  willow  tree,  if  placed  in  the  soil,  become 
a  hundred  trees  ;  we  can  hardly  entertain  a  doubt,  that 
with  the  combination  of  the  elements  of  the  food  of 
the  plant  so  as  to  form  a  part  of  it,  a  fresh  momentum 
of  force  is  added  in  the  newly  formed  part  to  the  pre- 
viously existing  momentum  in  the  plant  ;  insomuch,  that 
with  the  increase  of  mass,  the  sum  of  vital  force  is 
augmented. 

According  to  the  amount  of  available  vital  force,  the 


202  THE   PHENOMENA   OF   MOTION 

products  formed  by  its  activity  from  the  food  are  va- 
ried. The  composition  of  the  buds,  of  the  radical 
fibres,  of  the  leaf,  of  the  flower,  and  of  the  fruit,  are 
very  different  one  from  the  other  ;  and  the  chemical 
force  by  which  their  elements  are  held  together  is  very 
different  in  each  of  these  cases. 

Of  the  non-azotized  constituents  of  plants  we  may 
assert,  that  no  part  of  the  momentum  of  force  is  ex- 
pended in  maintaining  their  form  and  structure,  when 
their  elements  have  once  combined  in  that  order  in 
which  they  become  parts  of  organs  endued  with  vitality. 

Very  different  is  the  character  of  the  azotized  vege- 
table principles  ;  for,  when  separated  from  the  plant, 
they  pass,  as  is  commonly  said,  spontaneously,  into 
fermentation  and  putrefaction.  The  cause  of  this  de- 
composition or  transformation  of  their  elements  is  the 
chemical  action  which  the  oxygen  of  the  atmosphere 
exercises  on  one  of  their  constituents.  Now  we  know, 
that,  as  long  as  the  plant  exhibits  the  phenomena  of 
life,  oxygen  gas  is  given  off  from  its  surface  ;  that  this 
oxygen  is  altogether  without  action  on  the  constituents 
of  the  living  plant,  for  which,  in  other  circumstances,  it 
has  the  strongest  attraction.  It  is  obvious,  therefore, 
that  a  certain  amount  of  vital  force  must  be  expended, 
partly  to  retain  the  elements  of  the  complex  azotized 
principles  in  the  form,  order,  and  structure  which  be- 
long to  them  ;  and  partly  as  a  means  of  resistance 
against  the  incessant  tendency  of  the  oxygen  of  the 
atmosphere  to  act  on  their  elements,  as  well  as  against 


IN  THE  ANIMAL   ORGANISM.  203 

that  of  the  oxygen  separated  in  the  organism  of  the 
plant  by  the  vital  process. 

With  the  increase  of  these  easily  altered  compounds, 
in  the  flower  and  in  the  fruit,  for  example,  the  sum  of 
chemical  force  (the  free  manifestation  of  which,  coun- 
teracted by  an  equal  measure  of  vital  force,  is  employed 
to  furnish  resistance)  also  increases. 

The  plant  increases  in  mass  until  the  vital  force  in- 
herent in  it  comes  into  equilibrium  with  all  the  other 
causes  opposed  to  its  manifestation.  From  this  period, 
every  new  cause  of  disturbance,  added  to  those  pre- 
viously existing,  (a  change  of  temperature,  for  example,) 
deprives  it  of  the  power  of  offering  resistance,  and  it 
dies  down. 

In  perennial  plants,  (in  trees,  for  example,)  the  mass 
of  the  easily  decomposable  (azotized)  compounds, 
compared  with  that  of  the  non-azotized,  is  so  small, 
that  of  the  whole  sum  of  force,  only  a  minimum  is 
expended  as  resistance.  In  animals,  this  proportion  is 
reversed. 

During  every  period  of  the  life  of  a  plant,  the  avail- 
able vital  force  (that  which  is  not  neutralized  by 
resistance)  is  expended  only  in  one  form  of  vital  mani- 
festation, that  of  growth  or  increase  of  mass,  or  the 
overcoming  of  resistance.  No  part  of  this  force  is 
applied  to  other  purposes. 

In  the  animal  organism,  the  vital  force  exhibits  itself, 
as  in  the  plant,  in  the  form  of  the  capacity  of  growth, 
and  as  the  means  of  resistance  to  external  agencies  ; 


204  THE   PHENOMENA   OF    MOTION 

but  both  of  these  manifestations  are  confined  within 
certain  limits. 

We  observe  in  animals,  that  the  conversion  of  food 
into  blood,  and  the  contact  of  the  blood  with  the  living 
tissues,  are  determined  by  a  mechanical  force,  whose 
manifestation  proceeds  from  distinct  organs,  and  is 
effected  by  a  distinct  system  of  organs,  possessing  the 
property  of  communicating  and  extending  the  motion 
which  they  receive.  We  find  the  power  of  the  animal 
to  change  its  place,  and  to  produce  mechanical  effects 
by  means  of  its  limbs,  dependent  on  a  second  similar 
system  of  organs  or  apparatus.  Both  of  these  systems 
of  apparatus,  as  well  as  the  phenomena  of  motion  pro- 
ceeding from  them,  are  wanting  in  plants. 

In  order  to  form  a  clear  conception  of  the  origin  and 
source  of  the  mechanical  motions  in  the  animal  body, 
it  may  be  advantageous  to  reflect  on  the  modus  operandi 
of  other  forces,  which  in  their  manifestations  are  most 
closely  allied  to  the  vital  force. 

When  a  number  of  plates  of  zinc  and  copper,  ar- 
ranged in  a  certain  order,  are  brought  into  contact  with 
an  acid,  and  when  the  extremities  of  the  apparatus  are 
joined  by  means  of  a  metallic  wire,  a  chemical  action 
begins  at  the  surface  of  the  plates  of  zinc,  and  the  wire, 
in  consequence  of  this  action,  acquires  the  most  singular 
and  wonderful  properties. 

The  wire  appears  as  the  carrier  or  conductor  of  a 
force,  which  may  be  conducted  and  communicated 
through  it  in  every  direction  with  amazing  velocity. 


IN  THE   ANIMAL   ORGANISM.  2Q5 

It  is  the  conductor  or  propagator  of  an  uninterrupted 
series  of  manifestations  of  activity. 

Such  a  propagation  of  motion  is  inconceivable,  if  in 
the  wire  there  were  a  resistance  to  be  overcome  ;  for 
every  resistance  would  convert  a  part  of  the  moving 
force  into  a  force  at  rest. 

When  the  wire  is  divided  in  the  middle,  and  its  con- 
tinuity interrupted,  the  propagation  of  force  ceases,  and 
we  observe,  that  in  this  case  the  action  between  the 
zinc  and  the  acid  is  immediately  stopped. 

If  the  communication  be  restored,  the  action  which 
had  disappeared,  reappears  with  all  its  original  energy. 

By  means  of  the  force  present  in  the  wire,  we  can 
produce  the  most  varied  effects  ;  we  can  overcome  all 
kinds  of  resistance,  raise  weights,  set  ships  in  motion, 
&c.  And,  what  is  still  more  remarkable,  the  wire  acts 
as  a  hollow  tube,  in  which  a  current  of  chemical  force 
circulates  freely  and  without  hinderance. 

Those  properties  which,  when  firmly  attached  to 
certain  bodies,  we  call  the  strongest  and  most  energetic 
affinities,  we  find,  to  all  appearance,  free  and  uncombin- 
ed  in  the  wire.  We  can  transport  them  from  the  wire 
to  other  bodies,  and  thereby  give  to  them  an  affinity 
(a  power  of  entering  into  combination)  which  in  them- 
selves they  do  not  possess.  According  to  the  amount 
of  force  circulating  in  the  wire,  we  are  able  by  means 
of  it  to  decompose  compounds,  the  elements  of  which 
have  the  strongest  attraction  for  each  other.  Yet  the 
substance  of  the  wire  takes  not  the  smallest  share  in 
18 


206  THE  PHENOMENA   OF   MOTION 

all  these  manifestations  of  force  ;  it  is  merely  the  con- 
ductor of  force. 

We  observe,  further,  in  this  wire,  phenomena  of  at- 
traction and  repulsion,  which  we  must  ascribe  to  the 
disturbance  of  the  equilibrium  in  the  electric  or  mag- 
netic force  ;  and  when  this  equilibrium  is  restored,  the 
restoration  is  accompanied  by  the  development  of  light 
and  heat,  its  never-failing  companions. 

All  these  remarkable  phenomena  are  produced  by 
the  chemical  action  which  the  zinc  and  the  acid  exert 
on  each  other  ;  they  are  accompanied  by  a  change  in 
form  and  structure,  which  both  undergo. 

The  acid  loses  its  chemical  character  ;  the  zinc  en- 
ters into  combination  with  it.  The  manifestations  of 
force  produced  in  the  wire  are  the  immediate  conse- 
quence of  the  change  in  the  properties  of  the  acid  and 
the  metal. 

One  particle  of  acid  after  another  loses  its  peculiar 
chemical  character  ;  and  we  perceive  that  in  the  same 
proportion  the  wire  acquires  a  chemical,  mechanical, 
galvanic,  or  magnetic  force,  whatever  name  be  given  to 
it.  According  to  the  number  of  acid  particles  which 
in  a  given  time  undergo  this  change,  that  is,  according 
to  the  surface  of  the  zinc,  the  wire  receives  a  greater 
or  less  amount  of  these  forces. 

The  continuance  of  the  current  of  force  depends  on 
the  duration  of  the  chemical  action  ;  and  the  duration 
of  the  latter  is  most  closely  connected  with  the  carry- 
ing away,  by  conduction,  of  the  force. 


IN  THE   ANIMAL   ORGANISM.  207 

If  we  check  the  propagation  of  the  current  of  force, 
the  acid  retains  its  chemical  character.  If  we  employ 
it  to  overcome  chemical  or  mechanical  resistance,  to 
decompose  chemical  compounds,  or  to  produce  motion, 
the  chemical  action  continues  ;  that  is  to  say,  one  par- 
ticle of  acid  after  another  changes  its  properties. 

In  the  preceding  paragraphs  we  have  considered 
these  remarkable  phenomena  in  a  form  which  is  inde- 
pendent of  the  explanations  of  the  schools.  Is  the 
force  which  circulates  in  the  wire  the  electrical  force  ? 
Is  it  chemical  affinity  ?  Is  it  propagated  in  the  conduc- 
tor like  a  fluid  set  in  motion,  or  in  the  form  of  a  series 
of  momenta  of  motion,  like  light  and  sound,  from  one 
particle  of  the  conductor  to  another  ?  All  this  we 
know  not,  and  we  shall  never  know.  All  the  supposi- 
tions which  may  be  employed  as  explanations  of  the 
phenomena  have  not  the  slightest  influence  on  the  truth 
of  these  phenomena  ;  for  they  refer  merely  to  the  form 
in  which  they  are  ma  ilfested. 

On  some  points,  however,  there  is  no  doubt  ;  name- 
ly, that  all  the  effects  which  may  be  produced  by  the 
wire  are  determined  by  the  change  of  properties  in  the 
zinc  and  in  the  acid  ;  for  the  term  "  chemical  action  " 
signifies  neither  more  nor  less  than  the  act  of  change  in 
them  ;  that  these  effects  depend  on  the  presence  of  a 
conductor,  of  a  substance  which  propagates  in  all  direc- 
tions, where  it  is  not  neutralized  by  resistance,  the 
force  or  momentum  produced  ;  that  this  force  becomes 
a  momentum  of  motion,  by  means  of  which  we  can 


208  THE   PHENOMENA   OF    MOTION 

produce  mechanical  effects,  and  which,  when  trans- 
ferred to  other  bodies,  communicates  to  them  all  those 
properties,  the  ultimate  cause  of  which  is  the  chemical 
force  itself;  for  these  bodies  acquire  the  power  of  caus- 
ing decompositions  and  combinations,  such  as,  without 
a  supply  of  force  through  the  conductor,  they  could  not 
effect. 

If  we  employ  these  well-known  facts  as  means  to 
assist  us  in  investigating  the  ultimate  cause  of  the  me- 
chanical effects  in  the  animal  organism,  observation 
teaches  us,  that  the  motion  of  the  blood  and  of  the 
other  animal  fluids  proceeds  from  distinct  organs,  which, 
as  in  the  case  of  the  heart  and  intestines,  do  not  gener- 
ate the  moving  power  in  themselves,  but  receive  it  from 
other  quarters. 

We  know  with  certainty  that  the  nerves  are  the  con- 
ductors and  propagators  of  mechanical  effects  ;  we 
know,  that  by  means  of  them  motion  is  propagated  in 
all  directions.  For  each  motion  we  recognise  a  sep- 
arate nerve,  a  peculiar  conductor,  with  the  conducting 
power  of  which,  or  with  its  interruption,  the  propaga- 
tion of  motion  is  affected  or  destroyed. 

By  means  of  the  nerves  all  the  parts  of  the  body,  all 
the  limbs,  receive  the  moving  force  which  is  indispen- 
sable to  their  functions,  to  change  of  place,  to  the  pro- 
duction of  mechanical  effects.  Where  nerves  are  not 
found,  motion  does  not  occur.  The  excess  of  force 
generated  in  one  place  is  conducted  to  other  parts  by 
the  nerves.  The  force  which  one  organ  cannot  pro- 


JN  THE  ANIMAL  ORGANISM.  209 

duce  in  itself  is  conveyed  to  it  from  other  quarters  ; 
and  the  vital  force  which  is  wanting  to  it,  in  order  to 
furnish  resistance  to  external  causes  of  disturbance,  it 
receives  in  the  form  of  excess  from  another  organ,  an 
excess  which  that  organ  cannot  consume  in  itself. 

We  observe  further,  that  the  voluntary  and  involun- 
tary motions,  in  other  words,  all  mechanical  effects  in 
the  animal  organism,  are  accompanied  by,  nay,  are  de- 
pendent on,  a  peculiar  change  of  form  and  structure  in 
the  substance  of  certain  living  parts,  the  increase  or 
diminution  of  which  change  stands  in  the  very  closest 
relation  to  the  measure  of  motion,  or  the  amount  of 
force  consumed  in  the  motions  performed. 

As  an  immediate  effect  of  the  manifestation  of  me- 
chanical force,  we  see,  that  a  part  of  the  muscular  sub- 
stance loses  its  vital  properties,  its  character  of  life  ; 
that  this  portion  separates  from  the  living  part,  and  loses 
its  capacity  of  growth  and  its  power  of  resistance. 
We  find  that  this  change  of  properties  is  accompanied 
by  the  entrance  of  a  foreign  body  (oxygen)  into  the 
composition  of  the  muscular  fibre  (just  as  the  acid  lost 
its  chemical  character  by  combining  with  zinc)  ;  and  all 
experience  proves,  that  this  conversion  of  living  mus- 
cular fibre  into  compounds  destitute  of  vitality  is  accel- 
erated or  retarded  according  to  the  amount  of  force 
employed  to  produce  motion.  Nay,  it  may  safely  be 
affirmed,  that  they  are  mutually  proportional  ;  that  a 
rapid  transformation  of  muscular  fibre,  or,  as  it  may  be 
called,  a  rapid  change  of  matter,  determines  a  greater 
18* 


210  THE  PHENOMENA  OF  MOTION 

amount  of  mechanical  force  ;  and  conversely,  that  a 
greater  amount  of  mechanical  motion  (of  mechanical 
force  expended  in  motion)  determines  a  more  rapid 
change  of  matter. 

From  this  decided  relation  between  the  change  of 
matter  in  the  animal  body  and  the  force  consumed  in 
mechanical  motion,  no  other  conclusion  can  be  drawn 
but  this,  that  the  active  or  available  vital  force  in  certain 
living  parts  is  the  cause  of  the  mechanical  phenomena  in 
the  animal  organism. 

The  moving  force  certainly  proceeds  from  living 
parts  ;  these  parts  possessed  a  momentum  of  force  or 
of  motion,  which  they  lost  in  proportion  as  other  parts 
acquired  a  momentum  of  force  or  of  motion  ;  they  lose 
their  capacity  of  growth,  and  their  power  to  resist  ex- 
ternal causes  of  change.  It  is  obvious  that  the  ultimate 
cause,  the  vital  force,  from  which  they  acquired  those 
properties,  has  served  for  the  production  of  mechanical 
force,  that  is,  has  been  expended  in  the  shape  of 
motion. 

How,  indeed,  could  we  conceive,  that  a  living  part 
should  lose  the  condition  of  life,  should  become  inca- 
pable of  resisting  the  action  of  the  oxygen  conveyed  to 
it  by  the  arterial  blood,  and  should  be  deprived  of  the 
power  to  overcome  chemical  resistance,  unless  the  mo- 
mentum of  the  vital  force,  which  had  given  to  it  all 
these  properties,  had  been  expended  for  other  pur- 
poses ? 

By  the   power   of  the   conductors,  the   nerves,  to 


IN  THE   ANIMAL   ORGANISM.  211 

propagate  the  momentum  of  force  in  a  living  part,  or 
the  effect  which  the  active  vital  force  inherent  in  the 
part  produces  on  all  the  surrounding  parts,  in  all  direc- 
tions where-  the  force,  or  rather  its  momentum  of  mo- 
tion, is  consumed  without  resistance  (for  without  motion 
no  change  of  matter  occurs,  and  when  motion  has 
begun,  there  is  no  longer  resistance),  an  equilibrium  is 
obviously  established  in  the*  living  part,  between  the 
chemical  forces  and  the  remaining  vital  force  ;  which 
equilibrium  would  not  have  occurred  had  not  vital  force 
been  expended  in  producing  mechanical  motion. 

In  this  state,  any  external  cause  capable  of  exerting 
an  influence  on  the  form,  structure,  and  composition  of 
the  organ  meets  with  no  further  resistance.  If  oxygen 
were  not  conveyed  to  it,  the  organ  would  maintain  its 
condition,  but  without  any  manifestation  of  vitality.  It 
is  only  with  the  commencement  of  chemical  action  that 
the  change  of  matter,  that  is,  the  separation  of  a  part 
of  the  organ  in  the  form  of  lifeless  compounds,  begins. 

The  change  of  matter,  the  manifestation  of  mechani- 
cal force,  and  the  absorption  of  oxygen,  are,  in  the 
animal  body,  so  closely  connected  with  each,  other,  that 
we  may  consider  the  amount  of  motion,  and  the  quantity 
of  living  tissue  transformed,  as  proportional  to  the 
quantity  of  oxygen  inspired  and  consumed  in  a  given 
time  by  the  animal.  For  a  certain  amount  of  motion, 
for  a  certain  proportion  of  vital  force  consumed  as  me- 
chanical force,  an  equivalent  of  chemical  force  is  mani- 
fested ;  that  is,  an  equivalent  of  oxygen  enters  into 


212  THE  PHENOMENA  OF  MOTION 

combination  with  the  substance  of  the  organ  which  has 
lost  the  vital  force  ;  and  a  corresponding  proportion  of 
the  substance  of  the  organ  is  separated  from  the  living 
tissue  in  the  shape  of  an  oxidized  compound. 

All  those  parts  of  the  body  which  nature  has  des- 
tined to  effect  the  change  of  matter,  that  is,  to  the  pro- 
duction of  mechanical  force,  are  penetrated  in  all  direc- 
tions by  a  multitude  of  the  most  minute  tubes  or  vessels, 
in  which  a  current  of  oxygen  continually  circulates,  in 
the  form  of  arterial  blood.  To  the  above-mentioned 
separation  of  part  of  the  elements  of  these  parts,  in 
other  words,  to  the  disturbance  of  their  equilibrium,  this 
oxygen  is  absolutely  essential. 

As  long  as  the  vital  force  of  these  parts  is  not  con- 
ducted away  and  applied  to  other  purposes,  the  oxygen 
of  the  arterial  blood  has  not  the  slightest  effect  on  the 
substance  of  the  organized  parts  ;  and  in  all  cases,  only 
so  much  oxygen  is  taken  up  as  corresponds  to  the  con- 
ducting power,  and,  consequently,  to  the  mechanical 
effects  produced. 

The  oxygen  of  the  atmosphere  is  the  proper,  active, 
external  cause  of  the  waste  of  matter  in  the  animal 
body  ;  it  acts  like  a  force  which  disturbs  and  tends  to 
destroy  the  manifestation  of  the  vital  force  at  every 
moment.  But  its  effect  as  a  chemical  agent,  the  dis- 
turbance proceeding  from  it,  is  held  in  equilibrium  by 
the  vital  force,  which  is  free  and  available  in  the  living 
tissue,  or  is  annihilated  by  a  chemical  agency  opposed 


IN   THE   AN[MAL  ORGANISM.  213 

to  that  of  oxygen,  the  manifestation  of  which  must  be 
considered  as  dependent  on  the  vital  force. 

In  chemical  language,  to  annihilate  the  chemical  ac- 
tion of  oxygen,  means,  to  present  to  it  substances,  or 
parts  of  organs,  which  are  capable  of  combining  with  it. 

The  action  of  oxygen  (affinity)  is  either  neutralized 
by  means  of  the  elements  of  organized  parts,  which 
combine  with  it  (after  the  free  vital  force  has  been  con- 
ducted away),  or  else  the  organ  presents  to  it  the  pro- 
ducts of  other  organs,  or  certain  matters  formed  from 
the  elements  of  the  food,  by  the  vital  activity  of  certain 
systems  of  apparatus. 

It  is  only  the  muscular  system  which,  in  this  sense, 
produces  in  itself  a  resistance  to  the  chemical  action 
of  oxygen,  and  neutralizes  it  completely. 

The  substance  of  cellular  tissue,  of  membranes,  and 
of  the  skin,  the  minutest  particles  of  which  are  not  in 
immediate  contact  with  arterial  blood  (with  oxygen), 
are  not  destined  to  undergo  this  change  of  matter. 
Whatever  changes  they  may  undergo  in  the  vital  pro- 
cess, affect,  in  all  cases,  only  their  surface. 

The  gelatinous  tissues,  mucous  membranes,  tendons, 
&c.,  are  not  designed  to  produce  mechanical  force  ; 
they  contain  in  their  substance  no  conductors  of  me- 
chanical effects.  But  the  muscular  system  is  inter- 
woven with  innumerable  nerves.  The  substance  of  the 
uterus  is  in  no  respect  different  in  chemical  composition 
from  the  other  muscles  ;  but  it  is  not  adapted  to  the 
change  of  matter,  to  the  production  of  force,  and  con- 


214  THE  PHENOMENA  OF  MOTION 

tains  no  organs  for  conducting  away  the  moving  power. 
Cellular  tissue,  gelatinous  membranes,  and  mucous 
membranes,  are  far  from  being  destitute  of  the  power 
of  combinin  ;  with  oxygen,  when  moisture  is  present ; 
we  know  that,  when  moist,  they  cannot  be  brought  in 
contact  with  oxygen  without  undergoing  a  progressive 
alteration.  But  one  surface  of  the  intestines  and  the 
cells  of  the  lungs  is  constantly  in  contact  with  oxy- 
gen ;  and  it  is  obvious,  that  they  must  be  as  rapidly 
altered  by  the  chemical  action  of  the  oxygen  in  the 
body  as  out  of  it,  were  it  not  that  there  exists  in  the 
organism  itself  a  source  of  resistance,  which  completely 
neutralizes  the  action  of  the  oxygen.  Among  the 
means  by  which  this  resistance  is  furnished  we  may 
include  all  substances  which  are  capable  of  combining 
with  oxygen,  or  acquire  that  property  under  the  influ- 
ence of  the  vital  force,  and  which  surpass  the  tissues 
above-mentioned  in  their  power  of  neutralizing  its 
chemical  action. 

All  those  constituents  of  the  body  which,  in  them- 
selves, do  not  possess,  in  the  form  of  vital  force,  the 
power  of  resisting  the  action  of  oxygen,  must  be  far 
better  adapted  for  the  purpose  of  combining  with,  and 
neutralizing  it,  than  those  tissues  which  are  under  the 
influence  of  the  vital  force,  although  only  through  the 
nerves.  In  this  point  of  view,  we  cannot  fail  to  per- 
ceive the  importance  of  the  bile  in  regard  to  the  sub- 
stance of  the  intestines,  and  that  of  the  pulmonary  cells, 
as  well  as  that  of  fat,  of  mucus,  and  of  the  secretions 
generally. 


IN  THE  ANIMAL   ORGANISM.  215 

When  the  membranes  are  compelled  from  their  own 
substance  to  furnish  resistance  to  the  action  of  the 
oxygen,  that  is,  when  there  is  a  deficiency  of  the  sub- 
stances destined  by  nature  for  their  protection,  they 
must,  since  their  renewal  is  confined  within  narrow 
limits,  yield  to  the  chemical  action.  The  lungs  and 
intestines  will  always  simultaneously  suffer  abnormal 
changes. 

From  the  change  of  matter  itself,  from  the  meta- 
morphosis of  the  living  muscular  tissue,  these  organs 
receive  the  means  of  resistance  to  the  action  of  oxygen 
which  are  indispensable  to  their  preservation.  Ac- 
cording to  .the  rapidity  of  this  process,  the  quantity  of 
bile  secreted  increases  ;  while  that  of  the  fat  present  in 
the  body  diminishes  in  the  same  proportion. 

For  carrying  on  the  involuntary  motions  in  the  ani- 
mal body,  a  certain  amount  of  vital  force  is  expended 
at  every  moment  of  its  existence  ;  and,  consequently, 
an  incessant  change  of  matter  goes  on  ;  but  the  amount 
of  living  tissue,  which,  in  consequence  of  this  form  of 
consumption  of  vital  force,  loses  its  condition  of  life 
and  its  capacity  of  growth,  is  confined  within  narrow 
limits.  It  is  directly  proportional  to  the  force  required 
for  these  involuntary  motions. 

Now,  although  we  may  suppose  that  the  living  mus- 
cular tissue,  with  a  sufficient  supply  of  food,  never 
loses  its  capacity  of  growth  ;  that  this  form  of  vital 
manifestation  is  continually  effective  ;  this  cannot  apply 
to  those  parts  of  the  body  whose  available  vital  force 


216  THE  PHENOMENA  OF  MOTION 

has  been  expended  in  producing  mechanical  effects. 
For  the  waste  of  matter,  in  consequence  of  motion  and 
laborious  exertion,  is  extremely  various  in  different 
individuals. 

If  we  reflect,  that  the  slightest  motion  of  a  finger 
consumes  force  ;  that  in  consequence  of  the  force  ex- 
pended, a  corresponding  portion  of  muscle  diminishes 
in  volume  ;  it  is  obvious,  that  an  equilibrium  between 
supply  and  waste  of  matter  (in  living  tissues)  can  only 
occur  when  the  portion  separated  or  expelled  in  a  life- 
less form  is,  at  the  same  instant  in  which  it  loses  its 
vital  condition,  restored  in  another  part. 

The  capacity  of  growth  or  increase  in  mass  depends 
on  the  momentum  of  force  belonging  to  each  part  ; 
and  must  be  capable  of  continued  manifestation  (if 
there  be  a  sufficient  supply  of  nourishment),  as  long 
as  it  does  not  lose  this  momentum,  by  expending  it, 
for  example,  in  producing  motion. 

In  all  circumstances,  the  growth  itself  is  restricted 
to  the  time  ;  that  is  to  say,  it  cannot  be  unlimited  in 
a  limited  time. 

A  living  part  cannot  increase  in  volume  at  the  same 
moment  in  which  a  portion  of  it  loses  the  vital  con- 
dition, and  is  expelled  from  the  organ  in  the  form  of 
a  lifeless  compound  ;  on  the  contrary,  its  volume  must 
diminish. 

The  continued  application  of  the  momentum  of  force 
in  living  tissues  to  mechanical  effects  determines,  there- 
fore, a  continued  separation  of  matter  ;  and  only  from 


IN  THE  ANIMAL  ORGANISM.  217 

the  period  at  which  the  cause  of  waste  ceases  to  oper- 
ate, can  the  capacity  of  growth  be  manifested. 

Now,  since,  in  different  individuals,  according  to  the 
amount  of  force  consumed  in  producing  voluntary  me- 
chanical effects,  unequal  quantities  of  living  tissue  are 
wasted,  there  must  occur,  in  every  individual,  unless 
the  phenomena  of  motion  are  to  cease  entirely,  a  con- 
dition in  which  all  voluntary  motions  are  completely 
checked,  in  which,  therefore,  these  occasion  no  waste. 
This  condition  is  called  sleep. 

The  growth  of  one  part,  which  is  not  deprived  of 
its  vital  force,  cannot  be  in  the  slightest  degree  affected 
by  the  consumption  of  the  vital  force  of  another  part 
in  producing  motion.  The  one  may  increase  in  vol- 
ume, while  the  other  diminishes  ,•  and  the  waste  in 
one  can  neither  increase  nor  diminish  the  supply  in  the 
other. 

Now,  since  the  consumption  of  force  for  the  in- 
voluntary motions  continues  in  sleep,  it  is  plain,  that 
a  waste  of  matter  also  continues  in  that  state  ;  and 
if  the  original  equilibrium  is  to  be  restored,  we  must 
suppose  that,  during  sleep,  an  amount  of  force  is  accu- 
mulated in  the  form  of  living  tissue,  exactly  equal  to 
that  which  was  consumed  in  voluntary  and  involuntary 
motion  during  the  preceding  waking  period. 

If  the  equilibrium  between  waste  and  supply  of  mat- 
ter be  in  the  least  degree  disturbed,  this  is  instantly  seen, 
in  the  different  amount  of  force  available  for  mechanical 
purposes. 

19 


218  THE  PHENOMENA   OF   MOTION 

It  is  further  obvious,  that  if  there  should  occur  a  dis- 
proportion between  the  conducting  power  of  the  nerves  of 
voluntary  and  involuntary  motion,  a  difference  in  the 
phenomena  of  motion  themselves  will  be  perceptible,  in 
the  same  proportion  as  the  one  or  the  other  is  capable 
of  propagating  the  momentum  of  force,  generated  by 
the  change  of  matter.  As  the  motions  of  the  circulat- 
ing system  and  of  the  intestines  increase,  the  power  of 
producing  mechanical  effects  in  the  limbs  must  diminish 
in  the  same  proportion  (as  in  wasting  fevers)  ;  and  if,  in 
a  given  time,  more  vital  force  has  been  consumed  for 
mechanical  purposes  (labor,  running,  dancing,  &c.) 
than  is  properly  available  for  the  voluntary  and  involun- 
tary motions  ;  if  force  be  expended  more  rapidly  than 
the  change  of  matter  can  be  effected  in  the  same  time  ; 
then  a  part  of  that  force  which  is  necessary  for  the  in- 
voluntary motions  must  be  expended  in  restoring  the 
excess  of  force  consumed  in  voluntary  motion.  The 
motions  of  the  heart  and  of  the  intestines,  in  this  case, 
will  be  retarded,  or  will  entirely  cease. 

From  the  unequal  degree  of  conducting  power  in  the 
nerves,  we  must  deduce  those  conditions  which  are 
termed  paralysis,  syncope,  and  spasm.  Paralysis  of 
the  nerves  of  voluntary  motion  may  exist  without  ema- 
ciation ;  but  frequently  recurring  attacks  of  epilepsy  (in 
which  vital  force  is  rapidly  wasted  in  producing  me- 
chanical effects)  are  always  accompanied  by  remarkably 
rapid  emaciation. 

It  ought  to  excite  the  highest  admiration  when  we 


IN   THE   ANIMAL  ORGANISM.  21  9 

consider  with  what  infinite  wisdom  the  Creator  has  di- 
vided the  means  by  which  animals  and  plants  are  quali- 
fied for  their  functions,  for  their  peculiar  vital  manifes- 
tations. 

The  living  part  of  a  plant  acquires  the  whole  force 
and  direction  of  its  vital  energy  from  the  absence  of  all 
conductors  of  force.  By  this  means  the  leaf  is  enabled 
to  overcome  the  strongest  chemical  attractions,  to  de- 
compose carbonic  acid,  and  to  assimilate  the  elements 
of  its  nourishment. 

In  the  flower  alone  does  a  process  similar  to  the 
change  of  matter  in  the  animal  body  occur.  There, 
phenomena  of  motion  appear  ;  but  the  mechanical  ef- 
fects are  not  propagated  to  a  distance,  owing  to  the  ab- 
sence of  conductors  of  force. 

The  same  vital  force  which  we  recognise  in  the  plant 
as  an  almost  unlimited  capacity  of  growth,  is  converted 
in  the  animal  body  into  moving  power  (into  a  current  of 
vital  force)  ;  and  a  most  wonderful  and  wise  economy 
has  destined  for  the  nourishment  of  the  animal  only 
such  compounds  as  have  a  composition  identical  with 
that  of  the  organs  which  generate  force,  that  is,  with  the 
muscular  tissue.  The  expenditure  of  force  which  the 
living  parts  of  animals  require,  in  order  to  reproduce 
themselves  from  the  blood  ;  the  resistance  of  the  chem- 
ical force  which  has  to  be  overcome  in  the  azotized 
constituents  of  food  by  the  vital  agency  of  the  organs 
destined  to  convert  them  into  blood  ;  these  are  as  noth- 
ing compared  to  the  force  with  which  the  elements  of 


220  THE   PHENOMENA  OF  MOTION 

carbonic  acid  are  held  together.  A  certain  amount  of 
force  would  necessarily  be  prevented  from  assuming  the 
form  of  moving  power,  if  it  were  to  be  expended  in 
overcoming  chemical  resistance  ;  for  the  momentum  of 
motion  of  the  vital  force  is  diminished  by  all  obstacles. 
But  the  conversion  of  the  constituents  of  blood  into 
muscular  fibre  (into  an  organ  which  generates  force)  is 
only  a  change  of  form.  Both  have  the  same  composi- 
tion ;  blood  is  fluid,  muscular  fibre  is  solid  blood.  We 
may  even  suppose  that  this  change  takes  place  without 
any  expenditure  of  vital  force  ;  for  the  mere  passage 
of  a  fluid  body  into  the  solid  state  requires  no  manifes- 
tation of  force,  but  only  the  removal  of  obstacles,  which 
oppose  that  force  (cohesion),  which  determines  the 
form  of  matter,  in  its  manifestations. 

In  what  form  or  in  what  manner  the  vital  force  pro- 
duces mechanical  effects  in  the  animal  body  is  altogeth- 
er unknown,  and  is  as  little  to  be  ascertained  by  experi- 
ment as  the  connexion  of  chemical  action  with  the  phe- 
nomena of  motion  which  we  can  produce  with  the  galvan- 
ic battery.  All  the  explanations  which  have  been  attempt- 
ed are  only  representations  of  the  phenomenon  ;  they 
are,  more  or  less,  exact  descriptions  and  comparisons 
of  known  phenomena  with  these,  whose  cause  is  un- 
known. In  this  respect  we  are  like  an  ignorant  man, 
to  whom  the  rise  and  fall  of  an  iron  rod  in  a  cylinder, 
in  which  the  eye  can  perceive  nothing,  and  its  connex- 
ion with  the  turning  and  motion  of  a  thousand  wheels  at 
a  distance  from  the  piston-rod,  appear  incomprehensible. 


IN  THE   ANIMAL    ORGANISM.  221 

We  know  not  how  a  certain  something,  invisible  and 
imponderable  in  itself  (heat),  gives  to  certain  bodies 
the  power  of  exerting  an  enormous  pressure  on  sur- 
rounding objects  ;  we  know  not  even  how  this  some- 
thing itself  is  produced  when  we  burn  wood  or  coals. 

So  is  it  with  the  vital  force,  and  with  the  phenomena 
exhibited  by  living  bodies.  The  cause  of  these  phe- 
nomena is  not  chemical  force  ;  it  is  not  electricity,  nor 
magnetism  ;  it  is  a  force  which  has  certain  properties  in 
common  with  all  causes  of  motion  and  of  change  in  form 
and  structure  in  material  substances.  It  is  a  peculiar 
force,  because  it  exhibits  manifestations  which  are  found 
in  no  other  known  force. 


.'•.;-.:    ii. , 

In  the  living  plant,  the  intensity  of  the  vital  force  far 
exceeds  that  of  the  chemical  action  of  oxygen. 

We  know,  with  the  utmost  certainty,  that,  by  the 
influence  of  the  vital  force,  oxygen  is  separated  from 
elements  to  which  it  has  the  strongest  affinity  ;  that  it 
is  given  out  in  the  gaseous  form,  without  exerting  the 
slightest  action  on  the  juices  of  the  plant. 

How  powerful,  indeed,  must   the  resistance  appear, 
which  the  vital  force  supplies  to  leaves  charged  with 
oil  of  turpentine  or  tannic  acid,  when  we  consider  the 
affinity  of  oxygen  for  these  compounds  ! 
19* 


222  THE    PHENOMENA    OF   MOTION 

This  intensity  of  action  or  of  resistance  the  plant 
obtains  by  means  of  the  sun's  light ;  the  effect  of  which 
in  chemical  actions  may  be,  and  is,  compared  to  that 
of  a  very  high  temperature  (a  moderate  red  heat). 

During  the  night  an  opposite  process  goes  on  in  the 
plant  ;  we  see  then  that  the  constituents  of  the  leaves 
and  green  parts  combine  with  the  oxygen  of  the  air, 
a  property  which  in  daylight  they  did  not  possess. 

From  these  facts  we  can  draw  no  other  conclusion 
but  this  ;  that  the  intensity  of  the  vital  force  diminishes 
with  the  abstraction  of  light  ;  that  with  the  approach 
of  night  a  state  of  equilibrium  is  established,  and  that 
in  complete  darkness  all  those  constituents  of  plants 
which,  during  the  day,  possessed  the  power  of  separat- 
ing oxygen  from  chemical  combinations,  and  of  resisting 
its  action,  lose  this  power  completely. 

A  precisely  similar  phenomenon  is  observed  in  ani- 
mals. 

The  living  animal  body  exhibits  its  peculiar  manifes- 
tations of  vitality  only  at  certain  temperatures.  When 
exposed  to  a  certain  degree  of  cold,  these  vital  phe- 
nomena entirely  cease. 

The  abstraction  of  heat  must,  therefore,  be  viewed 
as  quite  equivalent  to  a  diminution  of  the  vital  energy  ; 
the  resistance  opposed  by  the  vital  force  to  external 
causes  of  disturbance  must  diminish,  in  certain  tempera- 
tures, in  the  same  ratio  in  which  the  tendency  of  the 
elements  of  the  body  to  combine  with  the  oxygen  of 
the  air  increases. 


IN  THE  ANIMAL  ORGANISM.  223 

By  the  combination  of  oxygen  with  the  constituents 
of  the  metamorphosed  tissues,  the  temperature  ne- 
cessary to  the  manifestations  of  vitality,  is  produced 
in  the  carnivora.  In  the  herbivora,  again,  a  certain 
amount  of  heat  is  developed  by  means  of  those  ele- 
ments of  their  non-azotized  food,  which  have  the  prop- 
erty of  combining  with  oxygen. 

It  is  obvious,  that  the  temperature  of  an  animal  body 
cannot  change,  if  the  amount  of  inspired  oxygen  in- 
creases in  the  same  ratio  as  the  loss  of  heat  by  external 
cooling. 

Two  individuals,  carnivora,  of  equal  weight,  ex- 
posed to  unequal  degrees  of  cold,  lose,  in  a  given  time, 
by  external  cooling,  unequal  quantities  of  heat.  Ex- 
perience teaches,  that  if  their  peculiar  temperature  and 
their  original  weight  are  to  remain  unaltered,  they  re- 
quire unequal  quantities  of  food  ;  more  in  the  lower 
temperature  than  in  the  higher. 

The  circumstance,  that  the  original  weight  remains 
the  same,  with  unequal  quantities  of  food,  obviously 
presupposes,  that  in  the  same  time  a  quantity  of  oxygen 
proportional  to  the  temperature  has  been  absorbed  ; 
more  in  the  lower  than  in  the  higher  temperature. 

We  find  that  the  weight  of  both  individuals,  at  the 
end  of  24  hours,  is  equal  to  the  original  weight.  But 
we  have  assumed  that  their  food  is  converted  into  blood  ; 
that  the  blood  has  served  for  nutrition  ;  and  it  is  plain, 
that  when  the  original  weight  has  been  restored,  a  quan- 
tity of  the  constituents  of  the  body,  equal  in  weight  to 


224  THE  PHENOMENA  OF  MOTION 

those  of  the  food,  has  lost  its  condition  of  life,  and  has 
been  expelled  in  combination  with  oxygen. 

The  one  individual,  which,  being  exposed  to  the 
lower  temperature,  consumed  more  food,  has  also  ab- 
sorbed more  oxygen  ;  a  greater  quantity  of  the  con- 
stituents of  its  body  has  been  separated  in  combination 
with  oxygen  ;  and,  in  consequence  of  this  combination 
with  oxygen,  a  greater  amount  of  heat  has  been  lib- 
erated, by  which  means  the  heat  abstracted  has  been 
restored,  and  the  proper  temperature  of  the  body  kept 
up. 

Consequently,  by  the  abstraction  of  heat,  provided 
there  be  a  full  supply  of  food  and  free  access  of  oxy- 
gen, the  change  of  matter  must  be  accelerated  ;  and, 
along  with  the  augmented  transformation,  in  a  given 
time,  of  living  tissues,  a  greater  amount  of  vital  force 
must  be  rendered  available  for  mechanical  purposes. 

With  the  external  cooling,  the  respiratory  motions 
become  stronger  ;  in  a  lower  temperature  more  oxygen 
is  conveyed  to  the  blood  ;  the  waste  of  matter  increases, 
and  if  the  supply  be  not  kept  in  equilibrium  with  this 
waste,  by  means  of  food,  the  temperature  of  the  body 
gradually  sinks. 

But,  in  a  given  time,  an  unlimited  supply  of  oxygen 
cannot  be  introduced  into  the  body  ;  only  a  certain 
amount  of  living  tissue  can  lose  the  state  of  life,  and 
only  a  limited  amount  of  vital  force  can  be  manifested 
in  mechanical  phenomena.  It  is  only,  therefore,  when 
the  cooling,  the  generation  of  force,  and  the  absorption 


IN  THE   ANIMAL  ORGANISM.  225 

of  oxygen  are  in  equilibrium  together,  that  the  tem- 
perature of  the  body  can  remain  unchanged.  If  the 
loss  of  heat  by  cooling  go  beyond  a  certain  point,  the 
vital  phenomena  diminish  in  the  same  ratio  ;  for  the 
temperature  falls,  and  the  temperature  must  be  consid- 
ered as  a  uniform  condition  of  their  manifestation. 

Now  experience  teaches,  that  when  the  temperature 
of  the  body  sinks,  the  power  of  the  limbs  to  produce 
mechanical  effects  (or  the  force  necessary  to  the  vol- 
untary motions)  is  also  diminished.  The  condition  of 
sleep  ensues,  and  at  last  even  the  involuntary  motions 
(those  of  the  heart  and  intestines,  for  example)  cease, 
and  apparent  death  or  syncope  supervenes. 

It  is  obvious  that  the  cause  of  the  generation  of  force, 
namely,  the  change  of  matter,  is  diminished,  because, 
with  the  abstraction  of  heat,  as  in  the  plant  by  abstrac- 
tion of  light,  the  intensity  of  the  vital  force  diminishes. 
It  is  obvious,  that  the  momentum  of  force  in  a  living 
part  depends  on  its  proper  temperature  ;  exactly  as  the 
effect  of  a  falling  body  stands  in  a  fixed  relation  to  cer- 
tain other  conditions  ;  for  example,  to  the  velocity  at- 
tained in  falling. 

When  the  temperature  sinks,  the  vital  energy  dimin- 
ishes ;  when  it  again  rises,  the  momentum  of  force  in 
the  living  parts  appears  once  more  in  all  its  original  in- 
tensity. 

The  production  of  force  for  mechanical  purposes, 
and  the  temperature  of  the  body  must,  consequently, 


226  THE    PHENOMENA  OF  MOTION 

bear  a  fixed  relation  to  the  amount  of  oxygen  which 
can  be  absorbed  in  a  given  time  by  the  animal  body. 

The  quantities  of  oxygen  which  a  whale  and  a  carri- 
er's horse  can  inspire  in  a  given  time  are  very  unequal. 
The  temperature,  as  well  as  the  quantity  of  oxygen, 
is  much  greater  in  the  horse. 

The  force  exerted  by  a  whale,  when  struck  with  the 
harpoon,  his  body  being  supported  by  the  surrounding 
medium,  and  the  force  exerted  by  a  carrier's  horse, 
which  carries  its  own  weight  and  a  heavy  burden  for 
eight  or  ten  hours,  must  both  bear  the  same  ratio  to  the 
oxygen  consumed.  If  we  take  into  consideration  the 
time  during  which  the  force  is  manifested,  it  is  obvious 
that  the  amount  of  force  developed  by  the  horse  is  far 
greater  than  in  the  case  of  the  whale. 

In  climbing  high  mountains,  where,  in  consequence 
of  the  respiration  of  a  highly  rarefied  atmosphere,  much 
less  oxygen  is  conveyed  to  the  blood,  in  equal  times, 
than  in  valleys  or  at  the  level  of  the  sea,  the  change  of 
matter  diminishes  in  the  same  ratio,  and  with  it  the 
amount  of  force  available  for  mechanical  purposes. 
For  the  most  part,  drowsiness  and  want  of  force  for 
mechanical  exertions  come  on  ;  after  twenty  or  thirty 
steps,  fatigue  compels  us  to  a  fresh  accumulation  of 
force  by  means  of  rest  (absorption  of  oxygen  without 
waste  of  force  in  voluntary  motions) . 

By  the  absorption  of  oxygen  into  the  substance  of 
living  tissues,  these  lose  their  condition  of  life,  and  are 
separated  as  lifeless,  unorganized  compounds  ;  but  the 


IN  THE   ANIMAL  ORGANISM.  227 

whole  of  the  inspired  oxygen  is  not  applied  to  these 
transformations  ;  the  greater  part  serves  to  convert  into 
gas  and  vapor  all  matters  which  no  longer  belong  to  the 
organism  ;  and,  as  formerly  mentioned,  the  combination 
of  the  elements  of  such  compounds  with  the  oxygen 
produces  the  temperature  proper  to  the  animal  organism. 

The  production  of  heat  and  the  change  of  matter  are 
closely  related  to  each  other  ;  but  although  heat  can  be 
produced  in  the  body  without  any  change  of  matter  in 
living  tissues,  yet  the  change  of  matter  cannot  be 
supposed  to  take  place  without  the  cooperation  of 
oxygen. 

According  to  all  the  observations  hitherto  made, 
neither  the  expired  air,  nor  the  perspiration,  nor  the 
urine  contains  any  trace  of  alcohol,  after  indulgence  in 
spirituous  liquors  ;  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the 
elements  of  alcohol  combine  with  oxygen  in  the  body ; 
that  its  carbon  and  hydrogen  are  given  off  as  carbonic 
acid  and  water. 

The  oxygen  which  has  accomplished  this  change 
must  have  been  taken  from  the  arterial  blood  ;  for  we 
know  of  no  channel,  save  the  circulation  of  the  blood, 
by  which  oxygen  can  penetrate  into  the  interior  of  the 
body. 

Owing  to  its  volatility  and  the  ease  with  which  its 
vapor  permeates  animal  membranes  and  tissues,  alcohol 
can  spread  throughout  the  body  in  all  directions. 

If  the  power  of  the  elements  of  alcohol  to  combine 
with  oxygen  were  not  greater  than  that  of  the  com- 


228  THE   PHENOMENA  OF  MOTION 

pounds  formed  by  the  change  of  matter,  or  that  of  the 
substance  of  living  tissues,  they  (the  elements  of  alco- 
hol) could  not  combine  with  oxygen  in  the  body. 

It  is,  consequently,  obvious,  that  by  the  use  of  alco- 
hol a  limit  must  rapidly  be  put  to  the  change  of  matter 
in  certain  parts  of  the  body.  The  oxygen  of  the  arte- 
rial blood,  which,  in  the  absence  of  alcohol,  would  have 
combined  with  the  matter  of  the  tissues,  or  with  that 
formed  by  the  metamorphosis  of  these  tissues,  now 
combines  with  the  elements  of  alcohol.  The  arterial 
blood  becomes  venous,  without  the  substance  of  the 
muscles  having  taken  any  share  in  the  transformation. 

Now,  we  observe,  that  the  development  of  heat  in 
the  body,  after  the  use  of  wine,  increases  rather  than 
diminishes,  without  the  manifestation  of  a  correspond- 
ing amount  of  mechanical  force. 

A  moderate  quantity  of  wine,  in  women  and  children 
unaccustomed  to  its  use,  produces,  on  the  contrary,  a 
diminution  of  the  force  necessary  for  voluntary  motions. 
Weariness,  feebleness  in  the  limbs,  and  drowsiness, 
plainly  show  that  the  force  available  for  mechanical  pur- 
poses, in  other  words,  the  change  of  matter,  has  been 
diminished. 

A  diminution  of  the  conducting  power  of  the  nerves 
of  voluntary  motion  may  doubtless  take  a  certain  share 
in  producing  these  symptoms  ;  but  this  must  be  al- 
together without  influence  on  the  sum  of  available  force. 

What  the  conductors  of  voluntary  motion  cannot 
carry  away  for  effects  of  force,  must  be  taken  up  by  the 


IN   THE    ANIMAL   ORGANISM.  229 

nerves  of  involuntary  motion,  and  conveyed  to  the 
heart,  lungs,  and  intestines.  In  this  case,  the  circula- 
tion will  appear  accelerated  at  the  expense  of  the  force 
available  for  voluntary  motion  ;  but,  as  was  before  re- 
marked, without  the  production  of  a  greater  amount  of 
mechanical  force  by  the  process  of  oxidation  of  the 
alcohol. 

Finally,  we  observe,  in  hybernating  animals,  that, 
during  their  winter  sleep,  the  capacity  of  increase  in 
mass  (one  of  the  chief  manifestations  of  the  vital 
force),  owing  to  the  absence  of  food,  is  entirely  sup- 
pressed. In  several,  apparent  death  occurs  in  conse- 
quence of  the  low  temperature  and  of  the  diminution  of 
vital  energy  thus  produced  ;  in  others,  the  involuntary 
motions  continue,  and  the  animal  preserves  a  tempera- 
ture independent  of  the  surrounding  temperature.  The 
respirations  go  on  ;  oxygen,  the  condition  which  deter- 
mines the  production  of  heat  and  force,  is  absorbed 
now  as  well  as  in  the  former  state  of  the  animal  ;  and 
previous  to  the  winter  sleep,  we  find  all  those  parts 
of  their  body,  which  in  themselves  are  unable  to  furnish 
resistance  to  the  action  of  the  oxygen,  and  which,  like 
the  intestines  and  membranes,  are  not  destined  for 
the  change  of  matter,  covered  with  fat ;  that  is,  sur- 
rounded by  a  substance  which  supplies  the  want  of  re- 
sistance. 

If  we  now  suppose,  that  the  oxygen  absorbed  during 
the  winter  sleep  combines,  not  with  the  elements  of 
living  tissues,  but  with  those  of  the  fat,  then  the  living 
20 


230  THE  PHENOMENA  OF  MOTION 

part,  although  a  certain  momentum  of  motion  be  ex- 
pended in  keeping  up  the  circulation,  will  not  be  sep- 
arated and  expelled  from  the  body. 

With  the  return  of  the  higher  temperature,  the  ca- 
pacity of  growth  increases  in  the  same  ratio,  and  the 
motion  of  the  blood  increases  with  the  absorption  of 
oxygen.  Many  of  these  animals  become  emaciated 
during  the  winter  sleep,  others  not  till  after  awaking 
from  it. 

In  hybernating  animals  the  active  force  of  the  living 
parts  is  exclusively  devoted,  during  hybernation,  to  the 
support  of  the  involuntary  motions.  The  expenditure 
of  force  in  voluntary  motion  is  entirely  suppressed. 

In  contradistinction  to  these  phenomena,  we  know 
that,  in  the  case  of  excess  of  motion  and  exertion,  the 
active  force  in  living  parts  may  be  exclusively  and 
entirely  consumed  in  producing  voluntary  mechanical 
effects  ;  in  suchwise  that  no  force  shall  remain  avail- 
able for  the  involuntary  motions.  A  stag  may  be 
hunted  to  death  ;  but  this  cannot  occur  without  the 
metamorphosis  of  all  the  living  parts  of  its  muscular 
system,  and  its  flesh  becomes  uneatable.  The  con- 
dition of  metamorphosis  into  which  it  has  been  brought 
by  an  enormous  consumption  both  of  force  and  of 
oxygen,  continues  when  all  phenomena  of  motion  have 
ceased.  In  the  living  tissues,  all  the  resistance  offered 
by  the  vital  force  to  external  agencies  of  change  is 
entirely  destroyed. 

But  however  closely  the  conditions  of  the   produc- 


IN  THE  ANIMAL  ORGANISM.  231 

tion  of  heat  and  of  force  may  seem  to  be  connected 
together,  with  reference  to  mechanical  effects,  yet  the 
disengagement  of  heat  can  in  no  way  be  considered  as 
in  itself  the  only  cause  of  these  effects. 

All  experience  proves,  that  there  is,  in  the  organism, 
only  one  source  of  mechanical  power  ;  and  this  source 
is  the  conversion  of  living  parts  into  lifeless,  amor- 
phous compounds. 

Proceeding  from  this  truth,  which  is  independent  of 
all  theory,  animal  life  may  be  viewed  as  determined  by 
the  mutual  action  of  opposed  forces  ;  of  which  one 
class  must  be  considered  as  causes  of  increase  (of  sup- 
ply of  matter),  and  the  other  as  causes  of  diminution 
(of  waste  of  matter) . 

The  increase  of  mass  is  effected  in  living  parts  by 
the  vital  force  ;  the  manifestation  of  this  power  is  de- 
pendent on  heat  ;  that  is,  on  a  certain  temperature 
peculiar  to  each  specific  organism. 

The  cause  of  waste  of  matter  is  the  chemical  action 
of  oxygen  ;  and  its  manifestation  is  dependent  on  the 
abstraction  of  heat  as  well  as  on  the  expenditure  of  the 
vital  force  for  mechanical  purposes. 

The  act  of  waste  of  matter  is  called  the  change  of 
matter  ;  it  occurs  in  consequence  of  the  absorption  of 
oxygen  into  the  substance  of  living  parts.  This  absorp- 
tion of  oxygen  occurs  only  when  the  resistance  which 
the  vital  force  of  living  parts  opposes  to  the  chemical 
action  of  the  oxygen  is  weaker  than  that  chemical  ac- 
tion  ;  and  this  weaker  resistance  is  determined  by  the 


232  THE  PHENOMENA  OF  MOTION 

abstraction  of  heat,  or  by  the  expenditure  in  mechanical 
motions  of  the  available  force  of  living  parts. 

By  the  combination  of  the  oxygen  introduced  in  the 
arterial  blood  with  such  constituents  of  the  body  as 
offer  no  resistance  to  its  action,  the  temperature  neces- 
sary for  the  manifestation  of  vital  activity  is  produced. 

From  the  relations  between  the  consumption  of  oxy- 
gen on  the  one  hand,  and  the  change  of  matter  and 
development  on  the  other,  the  following  general  rules 
may  be  deduced. 

For  every  proportion  of  oxygen  which  enters  into 
combination  in  the  body,  a  corresponding  proportion 
of  heat  must  be  generated. 

The  sum  of  force  available  for  mechanical  purposes 
must  be  equal  to  the  sum  of  the  vital  forces  of  all  tis- 
sues adapted  to  the  change  of  matter. 

If,  in  equal  times,  unequal  quantities  of  oxygen  are 
consumed,  the  result  is  obvious,  in  an  unequal  amount 
of  heat  liberated,  and  of  mechanical  force. 

When  unequal  amounts  of  mechanical  force  are  ex- 
pended, this  determines  the  absorption  of  corresponding 
and  unequal  quantities  of  oxygen. 

For  the  conversion  of  living  tissues  into  lifeless  com- 
pounds, and  for  the  combination  of  oxygen  with  such 
constituents  of  the  body  as  have  an  affinity  for  it,  time 
is  required. 

In  a  given  time,  only  a  limited  amount  of  mechani- 
cal force  can  be  manifested,  and  only  a  limited  amount 
of  heat  can  be  liberated. 


IN  THE  ANIMAL   ORGANISM.  233 

That  which  is  expended,  in  mechanical  effects,  in 
the  shape  of  velocity,  is  lost  in  time  ;  that  is  to  say, 
the  more  rapid  the  motions  are,  the  sooner  or  the  more 
quickly  is  the  force  exhausted. 

The  sum  of  the  mechanical  force  produced  in  a 
given  time  is  equal  to  the  sum  of  force  necessary, 
during  the  same  time,  to  produce  the  voluntary  and 
involuntary  motions  ;  that  is,  all  the  force  which  the 
heart,  intestines,  &c.,  require  for  their  motions  is  lost 
to  the  voluntary  motions. 

The  amount  of  azotized  food  necessary  to  restore 
the  equilibrium  between  waste  and  supply  is  directly 
proportional  to  the  amount  of  tissues  metamorphosed. 

The  amount  of  living  matter,  which  in  the  body 
loses  the  condition  of  life,  is,  in  equal  temperatures, 
directly  proportional  to  the  mechanical  effects  produced 
in  a  given  time. 

The  amount  of  tissue  metamorphosed  in  a  given  time 
may  be  measured  by  the  quantity  of  nitrogen  in  the 
urine. 

The  sum  of  the  mechanical  effects  produced  in  two 
individuals,  in  the  same  temperature,  is  proportional  to 
the  amount  of  nitrogen  in  their  urine  ;  whether  the  me- 
chanical force  has  been  employed  in  voluntary  or  invol- 
untary motions,  whether  it  has  been  consumed  by  the 
limbs  or  by  the  heart  and  other  viscera. 

That  condition  of  the  body  which  is  called  health  in- 
cludes the  conception  of  an  equilibrium  among  all  the 
causes  of  waste  and  of  supply  ;  and  thus  animal  life  is 
20* 


234  THE  PHENOMENA   OF   MOTION 

recognised  as  the  mutual  action  of  both  ;  and  appears 
as  an  alternating  destruction  and  restoration  of  the  state 
of  equilibrium. 

In  regard  to  its  absolute  amount,  the  waste  and  supply 
of  matter  is,  in  the  different  periods  of  life,  unequal  ; 
but,  in  the  state  of  health,  the  available  vital  force  must 
always  be  considered  as  a  constant  quantity,  correspond- 
ing to  the  sum  of  living  particles. 

Growth,  or  the  increase  of  mass,  stands,  at  every 
age,  in  a  fixed  relation  to  the  amount  of  vital  force  con- 
sumed as  moving  power. 

The  vital  force,  which  is  expended  for  mechanical 
purposes,  is  subtracted  from  the  sum  of  the  force  avail- 
able for  the  purpose  of  increase  of  mass. 

The  active  force,  which  is  consumed  in  the  body  in 
overcoming  resistance  (in  causing  increase  of  mass), 
cannot,  at  the  same  time,  be  employed  to  produce  me- 
chanical effects. 

Hence  it  follows  necessarily,  that  when,  as  in  child- 
hood, the  supply  exceeds  the  waste  of  matter,  the  me- 
chanical effects  produced  must  be  less  in  the  same 
proportion. 

With  the  increase  of  mechanical  effects  produced, 
the  capacity  of  increase  of  mass  or  of  the  supply  of 
waste  in  living  tissues  must  diminish  in  the  same  pro- 
portion. 

A  perfect  balance  between  the  consumption  of  vital 
force  for  supply  of  matter  and  that  for  mechanical  ef- 
fects occurs,  therefore,  only  in  the  adult  state.  It  is 


IN  THE   ANIMAL   ORGANISM.  235 

at  once  recognised  in  the  complete  supply  of  the  matter 
consumed.  In  old  age  more  is  wasted  ;  in  childhood 
more  is  supplied  than  wasted. 

The  force  available  for  mechanical  purposes  in  an 
adult  man  is  reckoned,  in  mechanics,  equal  to  |th  of  his 
own  weight,  which  he  can  move  during  eight  hours, 
with  a  velocity  of  five  feet  in  two  seconds. 

If  the  weight  of  a  man  be  150  Ibs.,  his  force  is 
equal  to  a  weight  of  30  Ibs.  carried  by  him  to  a  dis- 
tance of  72,000  feet.  For  every  second  his  momen- 
tum offeree  is=  30X2-5  =75  Ibs.;  and  for  the 
whole  day's  work,  his  momentum  of  motion  is  =  30  X 
72,000  =  2,160,000. 

By  the  restoration  of  the  original  weight  of  his  body, 
the  man  collects  again  a  sum  of  force  which  allows  him, 
next  day,  to  produce,  without  exhaustion,  the  same 
amount  of  mechanical  effects. 

This  supply  of  force  is  furnished  in  a  seven  hours1 
sleep. 

In  manufactories  of  rolled  iron  it  frequently  happens, 
that  the  pressure  of  the  engine,  going  at  its  ordinary 
rate,  is  not  sufficient  to  force  a  rod  of  iron  of  a  certain 
thickness  to  pass  below  the  cylinders.  The  workman, 
in  this  case,  allows  the  whole  force  of  the  steam  to  act 
on  the  revolving  wheel,  and  not  until  this  has  acquired 
a  great  velocity  does  he  bring  the  rod  under  the  rollers  ; 
when  it  is  instantly  flattened  with  great  ease  into  a 
plate,  while  the  wheel  gradually  loses  the  velocity  it 
had  acquired.  What  the  wheel  gained  in  velocity,  the 


236  THE   PHENOMENA   OF   MOTION 

roller  gained  in  force  ;  by  this  process  force  was  ob- 
viously collected,  accumulated  in  the  velocity  ;  but  in 
this  sense  force  does  not  accumulate  in  the  living  or- 
ganism. 

The  restoration  of  force  is  effected,  in  the  animal 
body,  by  the  transformation  of  the  separated  parts,  des- 
tined for  the  production  of  force,  and  by  the  expendi- 
ture of  the  active  vital  force  in  causing  formation  of 
new  parts  ;  and,  with  the  restoration  of  the  separated  or 
effete  parts,  the  organism  recovers  a  force  equal  to  that 
which  has  been  expended. 

It  is  plain,  that  the  vital  force  manifested,  during 
sleep,  in  the  formation  of  new  parts  'must  be  equal  to 
the  whole  sum  of  the  moving  power  expended  in  the 
waking  state  in  all  mechanical  effects  whatever,  plus  a 
certain  amount  of  force,  which  is  required  for  carrying 
on  those  involuntary  motions  which  continue  during 
sleep. 

From  day  to  day,  the  laboring  man,  with  sufficient 
food,  recovers,  in  seven  hours'  sleep,  the  whole  sum 
of  force  ;  and  without  reckoning  the  force  necessary 
for  the  involuntary  motions  which  may  be  considered 
equal  in  all  men,  we  may  assume,  that  the  mechanical 
force  available  for  work  is  directly  proportional  to  the 
number  of  hours  of  sleep. 

The  adult  man  sleeps  7  hours,  and  wakes  17  hours  ; 
consequently,  if  the  equilibrium  be  restored  in  24  hours, 
the  mechanical  effects  produced  in  17  hours  must  be 


IN   THE   ANIMAL  ORGANISM.  237 

equal  to  the  effects  produced  during  7  hours  in  the 
shape  of  formation  of  new  parts. 

An  old  man  sleeps  only  3|  hours  ;  and  if  every  thing 
else  be  supposed  the  same  as  in  the  case  of  the  adult, 
he  will  be  able,  at  all  events,  to  produce  half  of  the 
mechanical  effects  produced  by  an  adult  of  equal 
weight;  that  is,  he  will  be  able  to  carry  only  15  Ibs. 
instead  of  30  to  the  same  distance. 

The  infant  at  the  breast  sleeps  20  hours  and  wakes 
only  4  ;  the  active  force  consumed  in  formation  of 
new  parts  is,  in  this  case,  to  that  consumed  in  mechani- 
cal effects,  (in  motion  of  the  limbs,)  as  20  to  4  ;  but 
his  limbs  possess  no  momentum  of  force,  for  he  cannot 
yet  support  his  own  body.  If  we  assume,  that  the  aged 
man  and  infant  consume  in  mechanical  effects  a  quantity 
of  force  corresponding  to  the  proportion  available  in 
the  adult,  then  the  mechanical  effects  are  proportional 
to  the  number  of  waking  hours,  the  formation  of  new 
parts  to  the  number  of  hours  of  sleep,  and  we  shall 
have  : 

Force  expended  Force  expended  in 

in  mechanical  effects.  formation  of  new  parts. 

In  the  adult 17  :  7 

In  the  infant 4  :  20 

In  the  old  man    ....  20  :  4 

In  the  adult,  a  perfect  equilibrium  takes  place  be- 
tween waste  and  supply  ;  in  the  old  man  and  in  the 
infant,  waste  and  supply  are  not  in  equilibrium.  If  we 
make  the  consumption  of  force  in  the  17  waking  hours 
equal  to  that  required  for  the  restoration  of  the  equili- 


238  THE  PHENOMENA   OF    MOTION 

brium  during  sleep  =  100  =  17  waking  hours,  =  7 
hours  of  sleep,  we  obtain  the  following  proportions. 
The  mechanical  effects  are  to  those  in  the  shape  of 
formation  of  new  parts  : 

In  the  adult  man  =  100  :  100 

In  the  infant  .  .  =    25  :  250    (24  :  286) 

In  the  old  man  .  =  125  :     50  (118  :     43) 

Or  the  increase  of  mass  to  the  diminution  of  waste  : 

In  the  adult  man  ==  100  :  100 

In  the  infant   .  .  =  100  :     10      (9) 

In  the  old  man  .  =  100  :  250  (274) 

It  is  consequently  clear,  that  if  the  old  man  performs 
an  amount  of  work  proportional  to  the  sleeping  hours 
of  the  adult,  the  waste  will  be  greater  than  the  supply  ; 
that  is,  his  body  will  rapidly  decrease  in  weight,  if  he 
carry  15  Ibs.  to  the  distance  of  72,000  feet  with  a  ve- 
locity of  2j  feet  in  the  second  ;  but  he  will  be  able, 
without  injury,  to  carry  6  Ibs.  to  the  same  distance. 

In  the  infant  the  increase  is  to  the  decrease  as  10  to 
1,  and  consequently,  if  we  in  his  case  increase  the  ex- 
penditure of  force  in  mechanical  effects  to  ten  times  its 
proper  amount,  there  will  thus  be  established  only  an 
equilibrium  between  waste  and  supply.  The  child, 
indeed,  will  not  grow  ;  but  neither  will  it  lose  weight. 

If,  in  the  adult  man,  the  consumption  of  force  for 
mechanical  purposes  in  24  hours  be  augmented  beyond 
the  amount  restorable  in  seven  hours  of  sleep,  then,  if 
the  equilibrium  is  to  be  restored,  less  force,  in  the  same 
proportion,  must  be  expended  in  mechanical  effects  in 


IN    THE   ANIMAL   ORGANISM.  239 

the  next  24  hours.  If  this  be  not  done,  the  mass  of 
the  body  decreases,  and  the  state  characteristic  of  old 
age  more  or  less  decidedly  supervenes. 

With  every  hour  of  sleep  the  sum  of  available  force 
increases  in  the  old  man,  or  approaches  the  state  of 
equilibrium  between  waste  and  supply  which  exists  in 
the  adult. 

It  is  further  evident,  that  if  a  part  of  the  force  which 
is  available  for  mechanical  purposes,  without  disturbing 
the  equilibrium,  should  not  be  consumed  in  moving  the 
limbs,  in  raising  weights,  or  in  other  labor,  it  will  be 
available  for  involuntary  motions.  If  the  motion  of  the 
heart,  of  the  fluids,  and  of  the  intestines,  (the  circula- 
tion of  the  blood  and  digestion,)  are  accelerated  in 
proportion  to  the  amount  of  force  not  consumed  in 
voluntary  motions,  the  weight  of  the  body  will  neither 
increase  nor  diminish  in  24  hours.  The  body,  there- 
fore, can  only  increase  in  mass,  if  the  force  accumulated 
during  sleep,  and  available  for  mechanical  purposes,  is 
employed  neither  for  voluntary  nor  for  involuntary  mo- 
tions. 

The  numerical  values  above  given  for  the  expen- 
diture of  force  in  the  human  body  refer,  as  has  been 
expressly  stated,  only  to  a  given,  uniform  temperature. 
In  a  different  temperature,  and  with  deficient  nourish- 
ment, all  these  proportions  must  be  changed. 

If  we  surround  a  part  of  the  body  with  ice  or  snow, 
while  other  parts  are  left  in  the  natural  state,  there  oc- 
curs, more  or  less  quickly,  in  consequence  of  the  loss 


240  THE   PHENOMENA    OF    MOTION 

of  heat,  an  accelerated  change  of  matter  in  the  cooled 
part. 

The  resistance  of  the  living  tissues  to  the  action  of 
oxygen  is  weaker  at  the  cooled  part  than  in  the  other 
parts  ;  and  this,  in  its  effects,  is  equivalent  to  an  in- 
crease of  resistance  in  these  other  parts. 

The  momentum  of  force  of  the  vitality  in  the  parts 
which  are  not  cooled  is  expended,  as  before,  in  me- 
chanical motion  ;  but  the  whole  action  of  the  inspired 
oxygen  is  exerted  on  the  cooled  part. 

If  we  imagine  an  iron  cylinder,  into  which  we  admit 
steam  under  a  certain  pressure,  then  if  the  force  with 
which  the  particles  of  the  iron  cohere  be  equal  to  the 
force  which  tends  to  separate  them,  an  equilibrium  will 
result  ;  that  is,  the  whole  effect  of  the  steam  will  be 
neutralized  by  the  resistance.  But  if  one  of  the  sides 
of  the  cylinder  be  movable,  a  piston-rod,  for  example, 
and  offer  to  the  pressure  of  the  steam  a  less  resistance 
than  other  parts,  the  whole  force  will  be  expended  in 
moving  this  one  side,  —  that  is,  in  raising  the  piston- 
rod.  If  we  do  not  introduce  fresh  steam  (fresh  force), 
an  equilibrium  will  soon  be  established.  The  piston- 
rod  resists  a  certain  force  without  moving,  but  is  raised 
by  an  increased  pressure.  When  this  excess  of  force 
has  been  consumed  in  motion,  it  cannot  be  raised  high- 
er ;  but  if  new  vapor  be  continually  admitted,  the  rod 
will  continue  to  move. 

In  the  cooled  part  of  the  body,  the  living  tissues 
offer  a  less  resistance  to  the  chemical  action  of  the 


IN  THE  .ANIMAL  ORGANISM.  24  I 

inspired  oxygen  ;  the  power  of  the  oxygen  to  unite 
with  the  elements  of  the  tissues  is,  at  this  part,  ex- 
alted. When  the  part  has  once  lost  its  condition  of 
life,  resistance  entirely  ceases  ;  and  in  consequence  of 
the  combination  of  the  oxygen  with  the  elements  of 
the  metamorphosed  tissues,  a  greater  amount  of  heat 
is  liberated. 

For  a  given  amount  of  oxygen,  the  heat  produced 
is,  in  all  cases,  exactly  the  same.  In  the  cooled  part, 
the  change  of  matter,  and  with  it  the  disengagement 
of  heat,  increases  ;  while  in  the  other  parts  the  change 
of  matter  and  liberation  of  heat  decrease.  But  when 
the  cooled  part,  by  the  union  of  oxygen  with  the  ele- 
ments of  the  metamorphosed  tissues,  has  recovered  its 
original  temperature,  the  resistance  of  its  living  parti- 
cles to  the  oxygen  conveyed  to  them  again  increases, 
and,  as  the  resistance  of  other  parts  is  now  diminished, 
a  more  rapid  change  of  matter  now  occurs  in  them, 
their  temperature  rises,  and  along  with  this,  if  the  cause 
of  the  change  of  matter  continue  to  operate,  a  larger 
amount  of  vital  force  becomes  available  for  mechanical 
purposes. 

Let  us  now  suppose  that  heat  is  abstracted  from  the 
whole  surface  of  the  body  ;  in  this  case  the  whole  ac- 
tion of  the  oxygen  will  be  directed  to  the  skin,  and 
in  a  short  time  the  change  of  matter  must  increase 
throughout  the  body.  Fat,  and  all  such  matters  as 
are  capable  of  combining  with  the  oxygen  which  is 
21 


242  THEORY   OF   DISEASE. 

brought  to  them  in  larger  quantity  than  usual,  will  be 
expelled  from  the  body  in  the  form  of  oxidized  com- 
pounds. 


III. 

THEORY    OF    DISEASE. 

Every  substance  or  matter,  every  chemical  or  me- 
chanical agency,  which  changes  or  disturbs  the  restora- 
tion of  the  equilibrium  between  the  manifestations  of 
the  causes  of  waste  and  supply,  in  such  a  way  as  to 
add  its  action  to  the  causes  of  waste,  is  called  a  cause 
of  disease.  Disease  occurs  when  the  sum  of  vital 
force,  which  tends  to  neutralize  all  causes  of  disturb- 
ance (in  other  words,  when  the  resistance  offered  by 
the  vital  force),  is  weaker  than  the  acting  cause  of 
disturbance. 

Death  is  that  condition  in  which  all  resistance  on 
the  part  of  the  vital  force  entirely  ceases.  So  long  as 
this  condition  is  not  established,  the  living  tissues  con- 
tinue to  offer  resistance. 

To  the  observer,  the  action  of  a  cause  of  disease 
exhibits  itself  in  the  disturbance  of  the  proportion  be- 
tween waste  and  supply  which  is  proper  to  each  period 
of  life.  In  medicine,  every  abnormal  condition  of 
supply  or  of  waste,  in  all  parts  or  in  a  single  part  of 
the  bcdy,  is  called  disease. 


THEORY  OF  DISEASE.  243 

It  is  evident  that  one  and  the  same  cause  of  disease 
will  produce  in  the  organism  very  different  effects, 
according  to  the  period  of  life  ;  and  that  a  certain 
amount  of  disturbance,  which  produces  disease  in  the 
adult  state,  may  be  without  influence  in  childhood  or 
in  old  age.  A  cause  of  disease  may,  when  it  is  added 
to  the  cause  of  waste  in  old  age,  produce  death  (anni- 
hilate all  resistance  on  the  part-  of  the  vital  force)  ; 
while  in  the  adult  state  it  may  produce  only  a  dispro- 
portion between  supply  and  waste  ;  and  in  infancy,  only 
an  equilibrium  between  supply  and  waste  (the  abstract 
state  of  health). 

A  cause  of  disease  which  strengthens  the  causes  of 
supply,  either  directly,  or  indirectly  by  weakening  the 
action  of  the  causes  of  waste,  destroys,  in  the  child 
and  in  the  adult,  the  relative  normal  state  of  health  ; 
while  in  old  age  it  merely  brings  the  waste  and  supply 
into  equilibrium. 

A  child,  lightly  clothed,  can  bear  cooling  by  a  low 
external  temperature  without  injury  to  health  ;  the 
force  available  for  mechanical  purposes  and  the  tem- 
perature of  its  body  increase  with  the  change  of  matter 
which  follows  the  cooling  ;  while  a  high  temperature, 
which  impedes  the  change  of  matter,  is  followed  by 
disease. 

On  the  other  hand,  we  see,  in  hospitals  and  chari- 
table institutions  (in  Brussels,  for  example)  in  which 
old  people  spend  the  last  years  of  life,  when  the  tem- 
perature of  the  dormitory,  in  winter,  sinks  2  or  3  de- 


244  THEORY  OF  DISEASE. 

grees  below  the  usual  point,  that  by  this  slight  degree 
of  cdoling  the  death  of  the  oldest  and  weakest,  males 
as  well  as  females,  is  brought  about.  They  are  found 
lying  tranquilly  in  bed,  without  the  slightest  symptoms 
of  disease,  or  of  the  usual  recognisable  causes  of  death. 
A  deficiency  of  resistance,  in  a  living  part,  to  the 
causes  of  waste  is,  obviously,  a  deficiency  of  resistance 
to  the  action  of  the  oxygen  of  the  atmosphere. 

When,  from  any  cause  whatever,  this  resistance  di- 
minishes in  a  living  part,  the  change  of  matter  increases 
in  an  equal  degree. 

Now,  since  the  phenomena  of  motion  in  the  animal 
body  are  dependent  on  the  change  of  matter,  the  in- 
crease of  the  change  of  matter  in  any  part  is  followed 
by  an  increase  of  all  motions.  According  to  the  con- 
ducting power  of  the  nerves,  the  available  force  is  car- 
ried away  by  the  nerves  of  involuntary  motion  alone, 
or  by  all  the  nerves  together. 

Consequently,  if,  in  consequence  of  a  diseased  trans- 
formation of  living  tissues,  a  greater  amount  of  force 
be  generated  than  is  required  for  the  production  of  the 
normal  motions,  it  is  seen  in  an  acceleration  of  all  or 
some  of  the  involuntary  motions,  as  well  as  in  a  higher 
temperature  of  the  diseased  part. 
This  condition  is  called  fever. 

When  a  great  excess  of  force  is  produced  by  change 
of  matter,  the  force,  since  it  can  only  be  consumed 
by  motion,  extends  itself  to  the  apparatus  of  voluntary 
motion. 


THEORY  OF    DISEASE.  245 

This  state  is  called  a  febrile  paroxysm. 

In  consequence  of  the  acceleration  of  the  circulation 
in  the  state  of  fever,  a  greater  amount  of  arterial  blood, 
and,  consequently,  of  oxygen,  is  conveyed  to  the  dis- 
eased part,  as  well  as  to  all  other  parts  ;  and  if  the 
active  force  in  the  healthy  parts  continue  uniform,  the 
whole  action  of  the  excess  of  oxygen  must  be  exerted 
on  the  diseased  part  alone. 

According  as  a  single  organ,  or  a  system  of  organs 
is  affected,  the  change  of  matter  extends  to  one  part 
alone,  or  to  the  whole  affected  system. 

Should  there  be  formed,  in  the  diseased  parts,  in 
consequence  of  the  change  of  matter,  from  the  ele- 
ments of  the  blood  or  of  the  tissue,  new  products, 
which  the  neighboring  parts  cannot  employ  for  their 
own  vital  functions  ;  —  should  the  surrounding  parts, 
moreover,  be  unable  to  convey  these  products  to  other 
parts,  where  they  may  undergo  transformation,  then 
these  new  products  will  suffer,  at  the  place  where  they 
have  been  formed,  a  process  of  decomposition  analo- 
gous to  fermentation  or  putrefaction. 

In  certain  cases,  medicine  removes  these  diseased 
conditions,  by  exciting  in  the  vicinity  of  the  diseased 
part,  or  in  any  convenient  situation,  an  artificial  dis- 
eased state  (as  by  blisters,  sinapisms,  or  setons)  ;  thus 
diminishing,  by  means  of  artificial  disturbance,  the  re- 
sistance offered  to  the  external  causes  of  change  in 
these  parts  by  the  vital  force.  The  physician  succeeds 
in  putting  an  end  to  the  original  diseased  condition, 
21  * 


246  THEORY  OF  DISEASE. 

when  the  disturbance,  artificially  excited,  (or  the  dim- 
inution of  resistance  in  another  part,)  exceeds  in  amount 
the  diseased  state  to  be  overcome. 

The  accelerated  change  of  matter,  and  the  elevated 
temperature  in  the  diseased  part  show,  that  the  resis- 
tance offered  by  the  vital  force  to  the  action  of  oxygen, 
is  feebler  than  in  the  healthy  state.  But  this  resistance 
only  ceases  entirely  when  death  takes  place.  By  the 
artificial  diminution  of  resistance  in  another  part,  the 
resistance  in  the  diseased  organ  is  not  indeed  directly 
strengthened  ;  but  the  chemical  action  (the  cause  of  the 
change  of  matter)  is  diminished  in  the  diseased  part, 
being  directed  to  another  part,  where  the  physician  has 
succeeded  in  producing  a  still  more  feeble  resistance  to 
the  change  of  matter  (to  the  action  of  oxygen). 

A  complete  cure  of  the  original  disease  occurs,  when 
external  action  and  resistance,  in  the  diseased  part,  are 
brought  into  equilibrium.  Health  and  the  restoration  of 
the  diseased  tissue  to  its  original  condition  follow,  when 
we  are  able  so  far  to  weaken  the  disturbing  action  of 
oxygen,  by  any  means,  that  it  becomes  inferior  to  the 
resistance  offered  by  the  vital  force,  which,  although 
enfeebled,  has  never  ceased  to  act ;  for  this  proportion 
between  these  causes  of  change  is  the  uniform  and  ne- 
cessary condition  of  increase  of  mass  in  the  living  or- 
ganism. 

In  cases  of  a  different  kind,  where  artificial  exter- 
nal disturbance  produces  no  effect,  physicians  adopt 
other*  indirect  methods  to  exalt  the  resistance  offered 


THEORY   OF   DISEASE.  247 

by  the  vital  force.  These  methods,  the  result  of  ages 
of  experience,  are  such,  that  the  most  perfect  theory 
could  hardly  have  pointed  them  out  more  acutely  or 
more  justly  than  has  been  done  by  the  observation 
of  sagacious  practitioners.  They  diminish,  by  blood- 
letting, the  number  of  the  carriers  of  oxygen  (the 
globules),  and  by  this-  means  the  conditions  of  change 
of  matter  ;  they  exclude  from  the  food  all  such  matters 
as  are  capable  of  conversion  into  blood  ;  they  give 
chiefly  or  entirely  non-azotized  food,  which  supports 
the  respiratory  process,  as  well  as  fruit  and  vegetables, 
which  contain  the  alkalies  necessary  for  the  secretions. 

If  they  succeed,  by  these  means,  in  diminishing  the 
action  of  the  oxygen  in  the  blood,  on  the  diseased  part, 
so  far  that  the  vital  force  of  the  latter,  its  resistance,  in 
the  smallest  degree  overcomes  the  chemical  action  ;  and 
if  they  accomplish  this,  without  arresting  the  functions 
of  the  other  organs,  then  restoration  to  health  is  certain. 

To  the  method  of  cure  adopted  in  such  cases,  if 
employed  with  sagacity  and  acute  observation,  there 
is  added,  as  we  may  call  it,  an  ally  on  the  side  of  the 
diseased  organ,  and  this  is  the  vital  force  of  the  healthy 
parts.  For,  when  blood  is  abstracted,  the  external 
causes  of  change  are  diminished  also  in  them,  and  their 
vital  force,  formerly  neutralized  by  these  causes,  now 
obtains  the  preponderance.  The  change  of  matter, 
indeed,  is  diminished  throughout  the  body,  and  with  it 
the  phenomena  of  motion  ;  but  the  sum  of  all  resisting 
powers,  taken  together,  increases  in  proportion  as  the 


THEORY   OF    DISEASE. 

amount  of  oxygen  acting  on  them  in  the  blood  is  di- 
minished. In  the  sensation  of  hunger,  this  resistance, 
in  a  certain  sense,  makes  itself  known  ;  and  the  pre- 
ponderating vital  force  exhibits  itself,  in  many  patients, 
when  hunger  is  felt,  in  the  form  of  an  abnormal  growth, 
or  an  abnormal  metamorphosis  of  certain  parts  of  organs. 
Sympathy  is  the  transference  of  diminished  resistance 
from  one  part,  not  exactly  to  the  next,  but  to  more 
distant  organs,  when  the  functions  of  both  mutually 
influence  each  other.  When  the  action  of  the  diseased 
organ  is  connected  with  that  of  another  ;  when,  for 
example,  the  one  no  longer  produces  the  matters  ne- 
cessary to  the  performance  of  the  functions  of  the  other, 
—  then  the  diseased  condition  is  transferred,  but  only 
apparently,  to  the  latter. 

In  regard  to  the  nature  and  essence  of  the  vital  force, 
we  can  hardly  deceive  ourselves,  when  we  reflect,  that 
it  behaves,  in  all  its  manifestations,  exactly  like  other 
natural  forces  ;  that  it  is  devoid  of  consciousness  or  of 
volition,  and  is  subject  to  the  action  of  a  blister. 

The  nerves,  which  accomplish  the  voluntary  and  in- 
voluntary motions  in  the  body,  are,  according  to  the 
preceding  exposition,  not  the  producers,  but  only  the 
conductors  of  the  vital  force  ;  they  propagate  motion, 
and  behave  towards  other  causes  of  motion,  which  in 
their  manifestations  are  analogous  to  the  vital  force, 
towards  a  current  of  electricity,  for  example,  in  a  pre- 
cisely analogous  manner.  They  permit  the  current  to 
traverse  them,  and  present,  as  conductors  of  electricity, 


THEORY  OF    DISEASE.  249 

all  the  phenomena  which  they  exhibit  as  conductors  of 
the  vital  force.  In  the  present  state  of  our  knowledge, 
no  one,  probably,  will  imagine  that  electricity  is  to  be 
considered  as  the  cause  of  the  phenomena  of  motion  in 
the  body  ;  but  still,  the  medicinal  action  of  electricity, 
as  well  as  that  of  a  magnet,  which,  when  placed  in  con- 
tact with  the  body,  produces  a  current  of  electricity, 
cannot  be  denied.  For  to  the  existing  force  of  motion 
or  of  disturbance  there  is  added,  in  the  electrical  current, 
a  new  cause  of  motion  and  of  change  in  form  and 
structure,  which  cannot  be  considered  as  altogether  in- 
efficient. 

Practical  medicine,  in  many  diseases,  makes  use  of 
cold  in  a  highly  rational  manner,  as  a  means  of  exalting 
and  accelerating,  in  an  unwonted  degree,  the  change  of 
matter.  This  occurs  especially  in  certain  morbid  con- 
ditions in  the  substance  of  the  centre  of  the  apparatus 
of  motion  ;  when  a  glowing  heat  and  a  rapid  current  of 
blood  towards  the  head  point  out  an  abnormal  metamor- 
phosis of  the  brain.  When  this  condition  continues 
beyond  a  certain  time,  experience  teaches  that  all  mo- 
tions in  the  body  cease.  If  the  change  of  matter  be 
chiefly  confined  to  the  brain,  then  the  change  of  matter, 
the  generation  of  force,  diminishes  in  all  other  parts. 
By  surrounding  the  head  with  ice,  the  temperature  is 
lowered,  but  the  cause  of  the  liberation  of  heat  contin- 
ues ;  the  metamorphosis,  which  decides  the  issue  of  the 
disease,  is  limited  to  a  short  period.  We  must  not  for- 
get, that  the  ice  melts  and  absorbs  heat  from  the  dis- 


250  THEORY  OF   DISEASE. 

eased  part ;  that  if  the  ice  be  removed  before  the  com- 
pletion of  the  metamorphosis,  the  temperature  again 
rises  ;  that  far  more  heat  is  removed  by  means  of  ice 
than  if  we  were  to  surround  the  head  with  a  bad  con- 
ductor of  heat.  There  has  obviously  been  liberated  in 
an  equal  time  a  far  larger  amount  of  heat  than  in  the 
state  of  health  ;  and  this  is  only  rendered  possible  by 
an  increased  supply  of  oxygen,  which  must  have  deter- 
mined a  more  rapid  change  of  matter. 

The  self-regulating  steam-engines,  in  which,  to  pro- 
duce a  uniform  motion,  the  human  intellect  has  shown 
the  most  admirable  acuteness  and  sagacity,  furnish  no 
unapt  image  of  what  occurs  in  the  animal  body. 

Every  one  knows,  that  in  the  tube  which  conveys  the 
steam  to  the  cylinder  where  the  piston-rod  is  to  be 
raised,  a  stop-cock  of  peculiar  construction  is  placed, 
through  which  all  the  steam  must  pass.  By  an  arrange- 
ment connected  with  the  regulating  wheel,  this  stop- 
cock opens  when  the  wheel  moves  slower,  and  closes 
more  or  less  completely  when  the  wheel  moves  faster 
than  is  required  for  a  uniform  motion.  When  it  opens, 
more  steam  is  admitted  (more  force),  and  the  motion  of 
the  machine  is  accelerated.  When  it  shuts,  the  steam 
is  more  or  less  cut  off,  the  force  acting  on  the  piston- 
rod  diminishes,  the  tension  of  the  steam  increases,  and 
this  tension  is  accumulated  for  subsequent  use.  The 
tension  of  the  vapor,  or  the  force,  so  to  speak,  is  pro- 
duced by  the  change  of  matter,  by  the  combustion 
of  coals  in  the  fire-place.  The  force  increases  (the 


THEORY  OF  DISEASE.  251 

amount  of  steam  generated,  and  its  tension  increase) 
with  the  temperature  in  the  fire-place,  which  depends 
on  the  supply  of  coals  and  of  air.  There  are  in  these 
engines  other  arrangements,  all  intended  for  regulation. 
When  the  tension  of  steam  in  the  boiler  rises  beyond  a 
certain  point,  the  passages  for  admission  of  air  close 
themselves  ;  the  combustion  is  retarded,  the  supply  of 
force  (of  steam)  is  diminished.  When  the  engine  goes 
slower,  more  steam  is  admitted  to  the  cylinder,  its  ten- 
sion diminishes,  the  air  passages  are  opened,  and  the 
cause  of  disengagement  of  heat  (or  production  of  force) 
increases.  Another  arrangement  supplies  the  fire- 
place incessantly  with  coals  in  proportion  as  they  are 
wanted. 

If  we  now  lower  the  temperature  at  any  part  of  the 
boiler,  the  tension  within  is  diminished  ;  this  is  immedi- 
ately seen  in  the  regulators  of  force,  which  act  precise- 
ly as  if  we  had  removed  from  the  boiler  a  certain  quan- 
tity of  steam  (force).  The  regulator  and  the  air  pas- 
sages open,  and  the  machine  supplies  itself  with  more 
coals. 

The  body,  in  regard  to  the  production  of  heat  and 
of  force,  acts  just  like  one  of  these  machines.  With 
the  lowering  of  the  external  temperature,  the  respira- 
tions become  deeper  and  more  frequent  ;  oxygen  is 
supplied  in  greater  quantity  and  of  greater  density  ;  the 
change  of  matter  is  increased,  and  more  food  must  be 
supplied,  if  the  temperature  of  the  body  is  to  remain 
unchanged. 


252  THEORY   OF   DISEASE. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  mention,  that  in  the  body, 
the  tension  of  vapor  cannot,  any  more  than  an  electri- 
cal current,  be  considered  the  cause  of  the  production 
of  force. 

From  the  theory  of  disease  developed  in  the  preced- 
ing pages,  it  follows  obviously,  that  a  diseased  condition 
once  established,  in  any  part  of  the  body,  cannot  be 
made  to  disappear  by  the  chemical  action  of  a  remedy. 
A  limit  may  be  put  by  a  remedy  to  an  abnormal  process 
of  transformation  ;  that  process  may  be  accelerated  or 
retarded  ;  but  this  alone  does  not  restore  the  normal 
(healthy)  condition. 

The  art  of  the  physician  consists  in  the  knowledge  of 
the  means  which  enable  him  to  exercise  an  influence  on 
the  duration  of  the  disease  ;  and  in  the  removal  of  all 
disturbing  causes,  the  action  of  which  strengthens  or 
increases  that  of  the  actual  cause  of  disease. 

It  is  only  by  a  just  application  of  its  principles  that 
any  theory  can  produce  really  beneficial  results.  The 
very  same  method  of  cure  may  restore  health  in  one 
individual,  which,  if  applied  to  another,  rnay  prove  fatal 
in  its  effects.  Thus,  in  certain  inflammatory  diseases, 
and  in  highly  muscular  subjects,  the  antiphlogistic 
treatment  has  a  very  high  value  ;  while  in  other  cases 
blood-letting  produces  unfavorable  results.  The  vivify- 
ing agency  of  the  blood  must  ever  continue  to  be  the 
most  important  condition  in  the  restoration  of  a  dis- 
turbed equilibrium,  which  result  is  always  dependent  on 
the  saving  of  time  ;  and  the  blood  must,  therefore,  be 


THEORY  OF  RESPIRATION.  253 

considered  and  constantly  kept  in  view,  as  the  ultimate 
and  most  powerful  cause  of  a  lasting  vital  resistance,  as 
well  in  the  diseased  as  in  the  unaffected  parts  of  the 
body. 

It  is  obvious,  moreover,  that  in  all  diseases  where 
the  formation  of  contagious  matter  and  of  exanthemata 
is  accompanied  by  fever,  two  diseased  conditions  simul- 
taneously exist,  and  two  processes  are  simultaneously 
completed  ;  and  that  the  blood,  as  it  were  by  reaction 
(that  is,  fever),  becomes  a  means  of  cure,  as  being  the 
carrier  of  that  substance  (oxygen)  without  the  aid  of 
which  the  diseased  products  cannot  be  rendered  harm- 
less, destroyed,  or  expelled  from  the  body  ;  a  means  of 
cure  by  which,  in  short,  neutralization  or  equilibrium  is 
effected. 


IV. 


THEORY    OF    RESPIRATION. 


During  the  passage  of  the  venous  blood  through  the 
lungs,  the  globules  change  their  color;  and  with  this 
change  of  color,  oxygen  is  absorbed  from  the  atmos- 
phere. Further,  for  every  volume  of  oxygen  absorbed, 
an  equal  volume  of  carbonic  acid  is,  in  most  cases, 
given  out. 

The  red  globules  contain  a  compound  of  iron ;  and 
no  other  constituent  of  the  body  contains  iron. 
22 


254  THEORY   OF  RESPIRATION. 

Whatever  change  the  other  constituents  of  the  blood 
undergo  in  the  lungs,  thus  much  is  certain,  that  the 
globules  of  venous  blood  experience  a  change  of  color, 
and  that  this  change  depends  on  the  action  of  oxygen. 

Now  we  observe  that  the  globules  of  arterial  blood 
retain  their  color  in  the  larger  vessels,  and  lose  it  only 
during  their  passage  through  the  capillaries.  All  those 
constituents  of  venous  blood,  which  are  capable  of 
combining  with  oxygen,  take  up  a  corresponding  quan- 
tity of  it  in  the  lungs.  Experiments  made  with  arterial 
serum  have  shown,  that  when  in  contact  with  oxygen  it 
does  not  diminish  the  volume  of  that  gas.  Venous 
blood,  in  contact  with  oxygen,  is  reddened,  while  oxy- 
gen is  absorbed  ;  and  a  corresponding  quantity  of  car- 
bonic acid  is  formed. 

It  is  evident  that  the  change  of  color  in  the  venous 
globules  depends  on  the  combination  of  some  one  of 
their  elements  with  oxygen  ;  and  that  this  absorption  of 
oxygen  is  attended  with  the  separation  of  a  certain 
quantity  of  carbonic  acid  gas. 

This  carbonic  acid  is  not  separated  from  the  serum  ; 
for  the  serum  does  not  possess  the  property,  when  in 
contact  with  oxygen,  of  giving  off  carbonic  acid.  On 
the  contrary,  when  separated  from  the  globules,  it  ab- 
sorbs from  half  its  volume  to  an  equal  volume  of  car- 
bonic acid,  and,  at  ordinary  temperatures,  is  not  satu- 
rated with  that  gas.  (See  the  article  "  Blut "  in  the 
u  Handworterbuch  der  Chemie  von  Poggendorff,  Woh- 
ler,  und  Liebig,"  p.  877.) 


THEORY   OF  RESPIRATION.  255 

Arterial  blood,  when  drawn  from  the  body,  is  soon 
altered ;  its  florid  color  becomes  dark  red.  The  florid 
blood,  which  owes  its  color  to  the  globules,  becomes 
dark  by  the  action  of  carbonic  acid,  and  this  change  of 
color  affects  the  globules,  for  florid  blood  absorbs  a 
number  of  gases  which  do  not  dissolve  in  the  fluid  part 
of  the  blood  when  separated  from  the  globules.  It  is 
evident,  therefore,  that  the  globules  have  the  power  of 
combining  with  gases. 

The  globules  of  the  blood  change  their  color  in  dif- 
ferent gases  :  and  this  change  may  be  owing  either  to  a 
combination  or  to  a  decomposition. 

Sulphuretted  hydrogen  turns  them  blackish  green  and 
finally  black  ;  and  the  original  red  color  cannot,  in  this 
case,  be  restored  by  contact  with  oxygen.  Here  a 
decomposition  has  obviously  taken  place. 

The  globules  darkened  by  carbonic  acid  become 
again  florid  in  oxygen,  with  disengagement  of  carbonic 
acid.  The  same  thing  takes  place  in  nitrous  oxide.  It 
is  clear  that  they  have  here  undergone  no  decomposi- 
tion, and,  consequently,  they  possess  the  power  of 
combining  with  gases,  while  the  compound  they  form 
with  carbonic  acid  is  destroyed  by  oxygen.  When  left 
to  themselves,  out  of  the  body,  the  compound  formed 
with  oxygen  again  becomes  dark,  but  does  not  recover 
its  florid  color  a  second  time  by  the  action  of  oxygen. 

The  globules  of  the  blood  contain  a  compound  of 
iron.  From  the  never-failing  presence  of  iron  in  red 
blood,  we  must  conclude,  that  it  is  unquestionably  neces- 


256  THEORY  OF  RESPIRATION. 

sary  to  animal  life  ;  and,  since  physiology  has  proved, 
that  the  globules  take  no  share  in  the  process  of  nutri- 
tion, it  cannot  be  doubted  that  they  play  a  part  in  the 
process  of  respiration. 

The  compound  of  iron  in  the  globules  has  the  char- 
acters of  an  oxidized  compound  ;  for  it  is  decomposed 
by  sulphuretted  hydrogen,  exactly  in  the  same  way  as 
the  oxides  or  other  analogous  compounds  of  iron.  By 
means  of  diluted  mineral  acids,  peroxide  (sesquioxide) 
of  iron  may  be  extracted,  at  the  ordinary  temperature, 
from  the  fresh  or  dried  red  coloring  matter  of  the  blood. 

The  characters  of  the  compounds  of  iron  may,  per- 
haps, assist  us  to  explain  the  share  which  that  metal 
takes  in  the  respiratory  process.  No  other  metal  can 
be  compared  with  iron,  for  the  remarkable  properties  of 
its  compounds. 

The  compounds  of  protoxide  of  iron  .possess  the 
property  of  depriving  other  oxidized  compounds  of 
oxygen  ;  while  the  compounds  of  peroxide  of  iron, 
under  other  circumstances,  give  up  oxygen  with  the 
utmost  facility. 

Hydrated  peroxide  of  iron,  in  contact  with  organic 
matters  destitute  of  sulphur,  is  converted  into  carbonate 
of  the  protoxide. 

Carbonate  of  protoxide  of  iron,  in  contact  with  wa- 
ter and  oxygen,  is  decomposed  ;  all  the  carbonic  acid 
is  given  off,  and,  by  absorption  of  oxygen,  it  passes  in- 
to the  hydrated  peroxide,  which  may  again  be  convert- 
ed into  a  compound  of  the  protoxide. 


THEORY   OF  RESPIRATION.  257 

Not  only  the  oxides  of  iron,  but  also  the  cyanides 
of  that  metal,  exhibit  similar  properties.  Prussian  blue 
contains  iron  in  combination  with  all  the  organic  ele- 
ments of  the  body  ;  hydrogen  and  oxygen  (water), 
carbon  and  nitrogen  (cyanogen). 

When  it  is  exposed  to  light,  cyanogen  is  given  off, 
and  it  becomes  white  ;  in  the  dark  it  attracts  oxygen, 
and  recovers  its  blue  color. 

All  these  observations,  taken  together,  lead  to  the 
opinion  that  the  globules  of  arterial  blood  contain  a 
compound  of  iron  saturated  with  oxygen,  which,  in  the 
living  blood,  loses  its  oxygen  during  its  passage  through 
the  capillaries.  The  same  thing  occurs  when  it  is 
separated  from  the  body,  and  begins  to  undergo  de- 
composition (to  putrefy).  The  compound,  rich  in 
oxygen,  passes,  therefore,  by  the  loss  of  oxygen  (re- 
duction), into  one  far  less  charged  with  that  element. 
One  of  the  products  of  oxidation  formed  in  this  pro- 
cess is  carbonic  acid.  The  compound  of  iron  in  the 
venous  blood  possesses  the  property  of  combining  with 
carbonic  acid  ;  and  it  is  obvious,  that  the  globules  of 
the  arterial  blood,  after  losing  a  part  of  their  oxygen, 
will,  if  they  meet  with  carbonic  acid,  combine  with 
that  substance. 

When  the  globules  reach  the  lungs,  they  will  again 
take  up  the  oxygen  they  have  lost  ;  for  every  volume  of 
oxygen  absorbed,  a  corresponding  volume  of  carbonic 
acid  will  be  separated  ;  they  will  return  to  their  former 

22* 


253  THEORY    OF   RESPIRATION. 

state  ;  that  is,  they  will  again  acquire  the  power  of  giv- 
ing off  oxygen. 

For  every  volume  of  oxygen  which  the  globules  can 
give  off,  there  will  be  formed  (as  carbonic  acid  con- 
tains its  own  volume  of  oxygen,  without  condensation) 
neither  more  nor  less  than  an  equal  volume  of  carbonic 
acid.  For  every  volume  of  oxygen  which  the  globules 
are  capable  of  absorbing,  no  more  carbonic  acid  can 
possibly  be  separated  than  that  volume  of  oxygen  can 
produce. 

When  carbonate  of  protoxide  of  iron,  by  the  ab- 
sorption of  oxygen,  passes  into  the  hydrated  peroxide, 
there  are  given  off,  for  every  volume  of  oxygen  neces- 
sary to  the  change  from  protoxide  to  peroxide,  four 
volumes  of  carbonic  acid  gas. 

But  from  one  volume  of  oxygen  only  one  volume  of 
carbonic  acid  can  be  produced  ;  and  the  absorption  of 
one  volume  of  oxygen  can  only  cause,  directly,  the 
separation  of  an  equal  volume  of  carbonic  acid.  Con- 
sequently, the  substance  or  compound  which  has  lost 
its  oxygen,  during  the  passage  of  arterial  into  venous 
blood,  must  have  been  capable  of  absorbing  or  com- 
bining with  carbonic  acid  ;  and  we  find,  in  point  of 
fact,  that  the  living  blood  is  never,  in  any  state,  satu- 
rated with  carbonic  acid  ;  that  it  is  capable  of  taking 
up  an  additional  quantity,  without  any  apparent  disturb- 
ance of  the  function  of  the  globules.  Thus,  for  ex- 
ample, after  drinking  effervescing  wines,  beer,  or  min- 
eral waters,  more  carbonic  acid  must  necessarily  be 


THEORY   OF   RESPIRATION.  259 

expired  than  at  other  times.  In  all  cases,  where  the 
oxygen  of  the  arterial  globules  has  been  partly  ex- 
pended, otherwise  than  in  the  formation  of  carbonic 
acid,  the  amount  of  this  latter  gas  expired  will  corre- 
spond exactly  with  that  which  has  been  formed  ;  less, 
however,  will  be  given  out  after  the  use  of  fat  and  of 
still  wines,  than  after  champagne. 

According  to  the  views  now  developed,  the  globules 
of  arterial  blood,  in  their  passage  through  the  capilla- 
ries, yield  oxygen  to  certain  constituents  of  the  body. 
A  small  portion  of  this  oxygen  serves  to  produce  the 
change  of  matter,  and  determines  the  separation  of 
living  parts  and  their  conversion  into  lifeless  com- 
pounds, as  well  as  the  formation  of  the  secretions  and 
excretions.  The  greater  part,  however,  of  the  oxy- 
gen is  employed  in  converting  into  oxidized  compounds 
the  newly  formed  substances,  which  no  longer  form 
part  of  the  living  tissues. 

In  their  return  towards  the  heart,  the  globules  which 
have  lost  their  oxygen  combine  with  carbonic  acid, 
producing  venous  blood  ;  and,  when  they  reach  the 
lungs,  an  exchange  takes  place  between  this  carbonic 
acid  and  the  oxygen  of  the  atmosphere. 

The  organic  compound  of  iron,  which  exists  in  ven- 
ous blood,  recovers  in  the  lungs  the  oxygen  it  has  lost, 
and,  in  consequence  of  this  absorption  of  oxygen,  the 
carbonic  acid  in  combination  with  it  is  separated. 

All  the  compounds  present  in  venous  blood,  which 
have  an  attraction  for  oxygen,  are  converted,  in  the 


2(50  THEORY  OF  RESPIRATION. 

lungs,  like  the  globules,  into  more  highly  oxidized  com- 
pounds ;  a  certain  amount  of  carbonic  acid  is  formed, 
of  which  a  part  always  remains  dissolved  in  the  serum 
of  the  blood. 

The  quantity  of  carbonic  acid  dissolved,  or  of  that 
combined  with  soda,  must  be  equal  in  venous  and 
arterial  blood,  since  both  have  the  same  temperature  ; 
but  arterial  blood,  when  drawn,  must,  after  a  short 
time,  contain  a  larger  quantity  of  carbonic  acid  than 
venous  blood,  because  the  oxygen  of  the  globules  is 
expended  in  producing  that  compound. 

Hence,  in  the  animal  organism,  two  processes  of 
oxidation  are  going  on  ;  one  in  the  lungs,  the  other  in 
the  capillaries.  By  means  of  the  former,  in  spite  of 
the  degree  of  cooling,  and  of  the  increased  evaporation 
which  takes  place  there,  the  constant  temperature  of 
the  lungs  is  kept  up  ;  while  the  heat  of  the  rest  of  the 
body  is  supplied  by  the  latter. 

A  man,  who  expires  daily  13-9  oz.  of  carbon  in  the 
form  of  carbonic  acid,  consumes,  in  24  hours,  37  oz. 
of  oxygen,  which  occupy  a  space  equal  to  807  litres 
=  51,648  cubic  inches  (Hessian). 

If  we  reckon  18  respirations  to  a  minute,  we  have, 
in  24  hours,  25,&20  respirations  ;  and,  consequently, 
in  each  respiration,  there  are  taken  into  the  blood 
f'j?|8  —  1  -99  cubic  inch  of  oxygen. 

In  one  minute,  therefore,  there  are  added  to  the 
constituents  of  the  blood  18  X  1*99  =  35'8  cubic 


THEORY  OF   RESPIRATION.  261 

inches  of  oxygen,  which,  at  the   ordinary  temperature, 
weigh  rather  less  than  12  grains   (12-2  Eng.). 

If  we  now  assume,  that  in  one  minute  10  Ibs.  of 
blood  pass  through  the  lungs  (Miiller,  Physiologic,  vol.  i., 
p.  345),  and  that  this  quantity  of  blood  measures  320 
cubic  inches,  then  1  cubic  inch  of  oxygen  unites  with 
9  inches  of  blood,  very  nearly. 

According  to  the  researches  of  Denis,  Richardson, 
and  Nasse  (Handworterbuch  der  Physiologic,  vol.  i., 
p.  138),  10,000  parts  of  blood  contain  8  parts  of  per- 
oxide of  iron.  Consequently,  76,800  grains  (10  Ibs. 
Hessian)  of  blood  contain  61-44  grains  of  peroxide  of 
iron,  in  arterial  blood,  =  55-30  of  protoxide  in  venous 
blood. 

Let  us  now  assume,  that  the  iron  of  the  globules  of 
venous  blood  is  in  the  state  of  protoxide.  It  follows, 
that  55'30  grains  of  protoxide  of  iron,  in  passing 
through  the  lungs,  take  up,  in  one  minute,  6-14  grains  of 
oxygen  (the  quantity  necessary  to  convert  it  into  perox- 
ide). But  since,  in  the  same  time,  the  10  Ibs.  of  blood 
have  taken  up  12  grains  of  oxygen,  there  remains  5-86 
grains  of  oxygen,  which  combine  with  the  other  constit- 
uents of  the  blood. 

Now,  55-30  grains  of  protoxide  of  iron  combine 
with  34-8  grains  of  carbonic  acid,  which  occupy  the 
volume  of  73  cubic  inches.  It  is  obvious,  therefore, 
that  the  amount  of  iron  present  in  the  blood,  if  in  the 
state  of  protoxide,  is  sufficient  to  furnish  the  means  of 
carrying  or  transporting  twice  as  much  carbonic  acid  as 


262  THEORY   OF  RESPIRATION. 

can  possibly  be  formed  by  the  oxygen  absorbed  in  the 
lungs. 

The  hypothesis  just  developed  rests  on  well-known 
observations,  and,  indeed,  explains  completely  the  pro- 
cess of  respiration,  as  far  as  it  depends  on  the  globules 
of  the  blood.  It  does  not  exclude  the  opinion,  that 
carbonic  acid  may  reach  the  lungs  in  other  ways  ;  that 
.  certain  other  constituents  of  the  blood  may  give  rise  to 
the  formation  of  carbonic  acid  in  the  lungs.  But  all 
this  has  no  connexion  with  that  vital  process  by  which 
the  heat  necessary  for  the  support  of  life  is  generated 
in  every  part  of  the  body.  Now  it  is  this  alone  which, 
for  the  present,  can  be  considered  as  the  object  truly 
worthy  of  investigation.  It  is  not,  indeed,  uninterest- 
ing to  inquire,  why  dark  blood  becomes  florid  by  the 
action  of  nitre,  common  salt,  &c.  ;  but  this  question  has 
no  relation  to  the  natural  respiratory  process. 

The  frightful  effects  of  sulphuretted  hydrogen,  and 
of  prussic  acid,  which,  when  inspired,  put  a  stop  to  all 
the  phenomena  of  motion  in  a  few  seconds,  are  ex- 
plained in  a  natural  manner  by  the  well-known  action  of 
these  compounds  on  those  of  iron,  when  alkalies  are 
present ;  and  free  alkali  is  never  absent  in  the  blood. 

Let  us  suppose  that  the  globules  lose  their  property 
of  absorbing  oxygen,  and  of  afterwards  giving  up  this 
oxygen  and  carrying  off  the  resulting  carbonic  acid  ; 
such  a  hypothetical  state  of  disease  must  instantly  be- 
come perceptible  in  the  temperature  and  other  vital 
phenomena  of  the  body.  The  change  of  matter  will 


THEORY   OP   RESPIRATION.  263 

be  arrested,  while  the  vital  motions  will  not  be  instantly 
stopped. 

The  conductors  of  force,  the  nerves,  will  convey, 
as  before,  to  the  heart  and  intestines  the  power  necessa- 
ry for  their  functions.  This  power  they  will  receive 
from  the  muscular  system,  while,  as  no  change  of  matter 
takes  place  in  the  latter,  the  supply  must  soon  fail.  As 
no  change  of  matter  occurs,  no  lifeless  compounds  are 
separated,  neither  bile  nor  urine  can  be  formed  ;  and 
the  temperature  of  the  body  must  sink. 

This  state  of  matters  soon  puts  a  stop  to  the  process 
of  nutrition,  and,  sooner  or  later,  death  must  follow,  but 
unaccompanied  by  febrile  symptoms,  which,  in  this 
case,  is  a  very  important  fact. 

This  example  has  been  selected  in  order  to  show  the 
importance  and  probable  advantage  of  an  examination  of 
the  blood  in  analogous  diseased  conditions.  It  cannot 
be,  in  the  slightest  degree,  doubtful,  that  the  function  as- 
cribed to  the  blood-globules  may  be  considered  as  fully 
explained  and  cleared  up,  if,  in  such  morbid  conditions, 
we  shall  discover  a  change  in  their  form,  structure,  or 
chemical  characters,  a  change  which  must  be  recog- 
nisable by  the  use  of  appropriate  reagents. 

If  we  consider  the  force  which  determines  the  vital 
phenomena  as  a  property  of  certain  substances,  this 
view  leads  of  itself  to  a  new  and  more  rigorous  consid- 
eration of  certain  puzzling  phenomena,  which  these  very 
substances  exhibit,  in  circumstances  in  which  they  no 
longer  make  a  part  of  living  organisms. 


APPENDIX; 

CONTAINING 

THE  ANALYTICAL  EVIDENCE 

REFERRED  TO   IN   THE    SECTIONS    IN   WHICH  ARE  DESCRIBED   THE 

CHEMICAL   PROCESSES   OF   RESPIRATION, 

OF 

NUTRITION, 

AND    OF   THE 

METAMORPHOSIS  OF  TISSUES. 


23 


[The  Notes  correspond  with  the  numbers  in  parentheses  in  the 
text.  All  the  Analyses  quoted,  which  have  the  mark*  attached, 
have  been  made  in  the  chemical  laboratory  of  the  University  of 
Giessen.] 


APPENDIX. 


INTRODUCTION  TO   THE   ANALYSES. 

THE  method  formerly  employed  to  exhibit  the  differ- 
ences in  composition  of  different  substances,  that,  namely, 
of  giving  the  proportions  of  the  various  elements  in  100 
parts,  has  been  long  abandoned  by  chemists  ;  because  it 
affords  no  insight  into  the  relations  which  exist  between 
two  or  more  compounds.  In  order  to  give  some  proofs 
of  this  statement,  we  shall  here  state,  in  that  form,  the 
composition  of  aldehyde  and  acetic  acid,  of  oil  of  bitter 
almonds  and  benzoic  acid. 

Oil  of 


Carbon 

Acetic  acid. 
40-00 

Aldehyde. 
55-024 

Benzoic  acid. 
69-25 

bitter  almc 
79-56 

Hydrogen 
Oxygen 

6-67 
53-33 

8-983 
35-993 

4-86 
25-89 

5-56 

14-88 

Now  aldehyde  is  converted  into  acetic  acid,  and  oil  of 
bitter  almonds  into  benzoic  acid,  simply  by  the  addition 
of  oxygen,  without  any  change  in  regard  to  the  other 
elements.  This  important  relation  cannot  be  traced  in 
the  mere  numerical  results  of  analysis  as  above  given  ; 
but  if  the  composition  of  the  related  compounds  be  ex- 
pressed in  formulae,  according  to  equivalents,  the  con- 


268  APPENDIX. 

nexion  in  each  case  becomes  obvious,  even  to  him  who 
knows  no  more  of  chemistry  than  that  C  represents  an 
equivalent  or  combining  proportion  of  carbon,  H  an 
equivalent  of  hydrogen,  and  O  an  equivalent  of  oxygen. 

Formula  Formula 

of  acetic  acid.         of  aldehyde.  of  benzoic  acid.      of  oil  of  bitter  almonds. 

C4H404  C4H402  C14H604  C14H602. 

These  formulae  are  exact  expressions  of  the  results  of 
analysis,  which,  in  each  of  the  two  cases  quoted,  refer  to 
a  fixed  quantity  of  carbon  ;  in  one  to  4  equivalents,  in  the 
other  to  14.  They  show,  that  acetic  acid  differs  from 
aldehyde,  and  benzoic  acid  from  oil  of  bitter  almonds, 
only  in  the  proportion  of  oxygen. 

Nor  is  it  more  difficult  to  understand  the  signification 
of  the  following  formulae. 

Cyamelide.  1  eq.  cyanuric  acid.  3  eq.  hydrated  cyanic  acid. 

C6N3H306  =  Cy3(  =  C6N3)03  +  3HO  =  3(CyO  +  HO)  = 
=C6N3H306  =C6N3H306. 

(In  these  formulae,  N  represents  an  equivalent  of  nitro- 
gen, and  Cy  an  equivalent  of  cyanogen.  This  latter  sub- 
stance being  composed  of  2  equivalents  of  carbon  and  1 
equivalent  of  nitrogen,  Cy  =  C2N.) 

The  first  formula  (that  of  cyamelide)  is  what  is  called 
an  empirical  formula,  in  which  the  relative  proportions  of 
the  elements  are,  indeed,  exactly  known,  but  where  we 
have  not  even  a  theory,  far  less  any  actual  knowledge,  of 
the  order  in  which  they  are  arranged.  The  second  for- 
mula is  intended  to  express  the  opinion,  that  3  eq.  of 
cyanogen  (=6  eq.  of  carbon -(-3  eq.  of  nitrogen)  having 
united  to  form  a  compound  atom  or  molecule,  have  com- 
bined with  3  eq.  of  oxygen  and  3  eq.  of  water,  to  form 


ANALYTICAL  EVIDENCE.  269 

1  eq.  of  hydrated  cyanuric  acid.  The  third  expresses  the 
order  in  which  the  elements  are  supposed  to  be  arranged 
in  hydrated  cyanic  acid,  the  whole  multiplied  by  3.  Each 
equivalent  of  cyanic  acid  is  formed  of  1  eq.  of  cyanogen, 
1  eq.  of  oxygen,  and  1  eq.  of  water  ;  and  hence  the  same 
number  of  atoms  of  each  element,  which  together  formed 
1  eq.  of  cyanuric  acid,  is  here  so  divided  as  to  yield  3  eq. 
of  cyanic  acid. 

We  have  here,  therefore,  the  same  absolute  and  rela- 
tive amount  of  atoms  of  each  element,  arranged  in  three 
different  ways  ;  yet  in  each  of  these  the  proportions  of 
the  elements,  calculated  for  100  parts,  must  of  course  be 
the  same.  It  is  easy,  therefore,  to  see  the  advantage  we 
possess  by  the  use  of  formulae  ;  that,  namely,  of  exhibit- 
ing the  relations  existing  between  compounds  of  different 
composition  ;  and  that  also  of  expressing  the  actual, 
probable,  or  possible  differences  between  substances, 
whose  composition,  in  100  parts,  is  the  same,  while  their 
properties,  as  in  the  case  above  quoted,  are  perfectly 
distinct. 

It  does  not  come  within  our  province  here  to  explain 
the  method  or  rule  by  which  the  composition  of  a  sub- 
stance, in  100  parts  (as  it  is  always  obtained  in  analysis), 
is  expressed  in  a  formula  ;  we  shall  only  describe  the  rule 
for  calculating,  from  a  given  formula,  the  composition  in 
100  parts.  For  this  purpose  it  must  be  noted,  that  C,  in 
a  chemical  formula,  signifies  a  weight  of  carbon  expressed 
by  the  number  76-437  (according  to  the  most  recent  de- 
terminations 75-8  or  75-0,  a  variation  which  has  no  effect 
whatever  on  the  formulae  here  adduced,  all  of  which  are 
calculated  on  the  number  76-437)  ;  that  H  signifies  a 
23* 


270  APPENDIX. 

weight  of_  hydrogen  =  12-478  ;    N  a  weight  of  nitrogen 
=  177-04  ;  and  lastly,  O  a  weight  of  oxygen  =  100. 

The  formula  of  proteine,  C48N6H36O14,  expresses,  there- 
fore, 

48  times    76-437  =  3668-98  carbon, 
6  times  177-040  —  1062-24  nitrogen, 
36  times     12-478=    449-21  hydrogen, 
14  times  100-000  =  1400-00  oxygen. 

The  sum  gives  a  weight  of  6580-43  proteine. 
Therefore,  — 

In  100  parts. 

In  6580.43  parts  of  proteine  are  contained  3668-98  carbon       55  756 
In  6580-43  ditto  1062  24  nitrogen    16-142 

In  6580-43  ditto  449-21  hydrogen    6-827 

In  6580-43  ditto  1400-00  oxygen      21-275 

100-000 

The  actual  results  of  analysis,  reduced  to  100  parts, 
when  compared  with  the  above  numbers,  will  show  how 
far  the  assumed  formula  is  correct  ;  or,  supposing  the  for- 
mula ascertained,  they  will  show  the  degree  of  accuracy 
displayed  by  the  experimenter.  Thus  the  proportions  in 
100  parts,  calculated  from  the  formula,  furnish  an  impor- 
tant check  to  the  operator,  and,  conversely,  the  formula 
calculated  from  his  results,  when  compared  with  other 
known  formulae,  supplies  a  test  of  his  accuracy,  or  of  the 
purity  of  the  substance  analyzed. 


ANALYTICAL  EVIDENCE.  271 

NOTE  I.    P.  12. 

CONSUMPTION  OF  OXYGEN  BY  AN  ADULT,  a 
JLn  Mull  Man 


•  ~ * v  Carbon  contained 

consumes  of  oxygen    produces  of  carbonic  in  the 

According  to  in  24  hours  acid  in  24  hours  carbonic  acid. 

cubic  in.     grains,     cubic  in.     grains,  grains. 

Lavoisier  and  Seguin  46,037    15,661     14,930      8,584  2,820  French. 
Menzies    ....    51,480    17,625  English. 

Davy      ....      45,504    15,751     31,680    17,811  4,853      do. 

Allen  and  Pepys     .    39,600    13,464    39,600    18,612  5,148      do. 
a  Gmelin,  —  Brande's  Manuel,  p.  1198. 


NOTE  II.    P.  13. 
COMPOSITION  OF  DRY  BLOOD   (SEE  NOTE  28). 

In  100  parts.    In  4'8.1bs.  Hessian  =  36,864  grains. 

Carbon      .    .    .  51-96    ....    19154-5 

Hydrogen    .    .        7-25 2672-7 

Nitrogen    .     .     .  15-07    ....      5555-4 

Oxygen   ...       21-30 7852-0 

Ashes    .    .    ,  4-42    ,                    1629-4 


100-00  36864-0 

Grains.  Grains. 

19154-5  carbon  form,  with  50539-5  oxygen,  carbonic  acid. 
2672-7  hydrogen     do.     21415-8      do.      water. 

Sum  =  71955-3     do. 
Deduct  oxygen  present  )  _ 
in  blood    .     .    .    .    / 

Remain    64103-3  grains  of  oxygen,  required 
for  the  complete  combustion  of  4-8  Ibs.  of  dry  blood.f 

It  is  assumed,  in  this  calculation,  that  24  Ibs.  of  blood 
yield  4-8  Ibs.  (20  per  cent.)  of  dry  residue.  The  remain- 
der, 80  per  cent.,  is  water. 

t  Or  63685-6,  H  =  12-478  and  C  =  76-437. 


272  APPENDIX. 


NOTE  III.    P.  14. 

DETERMINATION  OF  THE  AMOUNT  OF  CARBON 
EXPIRED. 

1.  ANALYSIS  or 

Faces. 

2-356  dry  faeces  left  0-320  ashes  (13-58  per  cent). 

0-352  dry  fseces  yielded  0-576  carbonic  acid,  and  0-218  water. 

Lentils. 

0-566  lentils,  dried  at  212°,  yielded  0-910  carbonic  acid  and 
0-366  water. 

Pease. 

1-060  pease,  dried  at  212°,  left  0-037  ashes. 
0-416    do.  do.  yielded  0-642  carbonic  acid,  and 

0-241  water. 

Potatoes. 

0-443  dried  potatoes  yielded  0-704  carbonic  acid  and  0-248 
water. 

Black  Bread  (Schwarzbrod). 

0  302  dried  black  bread  yielded  0-496  carbonic  acid  and  0-175 
water. 

0-241  do.  0-393  do.  0-142 

water. 

From  the  above,  which  are  the  direct  results  of  experi- 
ment, the  composition  in  100  parts  is  calculated  as  in  the 
following  table. 


ANALYTICAL  EVIDENCE. 


273 


2.  COMPOSITION 

Of  Faces.    Black  Bread.  Potatoes.  Flesh. 

Playfair.*      Boeckmann.*       Boussingault.  Boeckmann.* 

See  note 
28.) 


Carbon 

45-24 

45-09 

45-41 

44-1 

43-944 

Hydrogen 

6-88 

6-54 

6-45 

5-8 

6-222 

Nitrogen  ) 

34-73 

45-12 

44-89 

45-1 

44-919 

Oxygen    ) 

Ashes 

13-15 

3-25 

3-25 

5-0 

4-915 

10000  100-00  100-00      100-0  100-000 
Water  300-00 

400-00 


Of  Pease. 

Lentils. 

Beans. 

Playfair.* 

Playfair.* 

Playfair.* 

Carbon    *  '•  \ 

.    .  35-743 

37-38 

38-24 

Hydrogen  . 

.    .       5-401 

5-54 

5-84 

Nitrogen  ) 

.    .  39-366 

37-98 

38-10 

Oxygen    $ 

Ashes    .    . 

,/:„"     3-490 

3-20 

3-71 

Water     n  . 

.    .  16-000 

15-90 

14-11 

100-000 

100-00 

100-00 

Of  Fresh  Meat. 

Potatoes. 

Black  Bread. 

Boeckmann.* 

__A.  ~ 

Boussingault. 

Boeckmann.* 

Water                  75 

—  \ 
74-8 

72-2      73-2 

33      31-418 

Dry 

Matter          25 

25-2 

27-8      26-8 

67      68-592 

100 

100-0          100-0    100-0 

100    100-000 

3.  CALCULATION, 


with  the  help  of  the  preceding  data,  of  the  amount  of 
carbon  expired  by  ail  adult  man.  The  following  results 
are  deduced  from  observations  made  (see  table)  on  the 
average  daily  consumption  of  food,  by  from  27  to  30  sol- 


274  APPENDIX. 

diers  in  barracks  for  a  month,  or  by  855  men  for  one  day. 
The  food,  consisting  of  bread,  potatoes,  meat,  lentils, 
pease,  beans,  &c.,  was  weighed,  with  the  utmost  exact- 
ness, every  day  during  a  month  (including  even  pepper, 
salt,  and  butter)  ;  and  each  article  of  food  was  separately 
subjected  to  ultimate  analysis.  The  only  exceptions, 
among  the  men,  to  the  uniform  allowance  of  food,  were 
three  soldiers  of  the  guard,  who,  in  addition  to  the  daily 
allowance  of  2  Ibs.  of  bread,  received,  during  each  of  the 
periods  allotted  for  the  pay  of  the  troops,  2|  Ibs.  extra  ; 
and  one  drummer,  who,  in  the  same  period  left  2|  Ibs.  un- 
consumed.  According  to  an  approximative  report  by  the 
sergeant-major,  each  soldier  consumes  daily,  on  an  aver- 
age, out  of  barracks,  3  oz.  of  sausage,  |  oz.  of  butter, 
|  pint  of  beer,  and  ^  pint  of  brandy  ;  the  carbon  of  which 
articles  amounts  to  more  than  double  that  of  the  faeces 
and  urine  taken  together.  In  the  soldier,  the  faeces 
amount  daily,  on  an  average,  to  5\  oz.  ;  they  contain  75 
per  cent,  of  water,  and  the  dry  residue  contains  45*24  per 
cent,  of  carbon,  and  13*15  per  cent,  of  ashes.  100  parts  of 
fresh  faeces  consequently  contain  11  '31  per  cent,  of  car- 
bon, very  nearly  the  same  proportion  as  in  fresh  meat.  In 
the  calculation,  the  carbon  of  the  faeces  and  of  the  urine 
has  been  assumed  as  equal  to  that  of  the  green  vegetables 
and  of  the  food  (sausages,  butter,  beer,  &.c.)  consumed  in 
the  alehouse. 

From  the  observations,  as  recorded  in  the  table,  the 
following  conclusions  are  deduced. 

Flesh.  —  Meat  devoid  of  fat,  if  reckoned  at  74  per  cent, 
water,  and  26  per  cent,  dry  matter,  contains  in  100  parts 
very  nearly  13  6  parts  of  carbon.  Ordinary  meat  con- 


ANALYTICAL  EVIDENCE.  275 

tains  both  fat  and  cellular  tissue,  which  together  amount  to 
fth  of  the  weight  of  the  meat  as  bought  from  the  butcher. 
The  number  of  ounces  consumed  (by  855  men)  was  4,448, 
consisting,  therefore,  of 

3812-5  oz.  of  flesh,  free  from  fat,  containing1  of  carbon   518*5  oz. 
635-5  oz.  of  fat  and  cellular  tissue,  ditto  449-0  oz. 

4448-0  oz.  In  all,  carbon  967-5  oz. 

With  the  bones,  the  meat,  as  purchased,  contains  29 
per  cent,  of  fixed  matter,  including  bones  ;  4,448  oz.  of 
flesh,  therefore,  contain  448  oz.  of  dry  bones.  These  have 
not  been  included  in  the  calculation,  although,  when 
boiled,  they  yield  from  8  to  10  per  cent,  of  gelatine,  which 
is  taken  as  food  in  the  soup. 

Fat.  —  The  amount  of  fat  consumed  was  56  oz.  ;  which, 
the  carbon  being  calculated  at  80  per  cent.,  contain  in  all 
44'8  oz.  of  carbon. 

Lentils,  pease,  and  beans.  — There  were  consumed  53 '5 
oz.  of  lentils,  185'5  oz.  of  pease,  and  218  oz.f  of  beans. 
Assuming  the  average  amount  of  carbon  in  these  vegeta- 
bles to  be  37  per  cent.,  the  total  quantity  of  carbon  con- 
sumed in  this  form  was  169-1  oz. 

Potatoes.  —  100  parts  of  fresh  potatoes  contain  12'2 
parts  of  carbon.  In  the  15,876  oz.  of  potatoes  consumed, 
therefore,  the  amount  of  carbon  was  1936-87  oz. 

Bread.  —  855  men  eat  daily  855  times  32  oz.,  besides 
36  Ibs.  of  bread  in  the  soup,  which  in  all  amounts  to 
27,936  oz.  100  oz.  of  fresh  bread  contain,  on  an  average, 
30-15  oz.  of  carbon  ;  consequently,  the  carbon  consumed 
in  the  bread  amounts  to  8771-5  oz. 

t  According  to  the  table,  222  oz. 


276  APPENDIX. 

The  total  consumption,  therefore,  was 

In  the  meat      ....      967-50  oz.  of  carbon. 
In  the  fat     .  .  44-80        ditto 

In  the  lentils,  pease,  and  beans     169*10        ditto 

In  the  potatoes        .        .        .  1936-87        ditto 

In  the  bread        .        .        .  8771-50        ditto 

Consumed  by  855  men        11889-77         ditto 
Consumed  by  1  man     .        .  13-9         ditto  f 

The  faeces  of  a  soldier  weigh  5-5  oz.,  and  contain,  in 
the  fresh  state,  1 1  per  cent,  of  carbon.  For  86  kreutzers 
(about  2s.  5d.  sterling)  there  may  be  bought,  on  an  aver- 
age, 172  Ibs.  of  vegetables,  such  as  cabbages,  greens, 
turnips,  &.c.  :  25  maas  of  sour  krout  weigh  100  Ibs.  ;  and 
for  48|  kreutzers  (Is.  5d,  sterling)  there  are  bought,  on  an 
average,  24|  Ibs.  of  onions,  leeks,  celery,  &c.J  855  men 
consumed 

Of  green  vegetables    ....    2,802  oz.  § 
Of  sour  krout    .....        1,600 
Of  onions,  &c 388 

In  all    ,  4,790 


And  one  man       ....        5.6  oz. 

For  this  reason,  the  carbon  of  the  last  mentioned  arti- 
cles of  food  has  been  assumed  as  equal  to  that  of  the 

t  Taking  the  composition  of  bread  as  given  on  page  273,  100  oz. 
contain  30-68,  which  would  give  8570-76,  reducing  each  man's  con- 
sumption -23.  8771-50  disagrees  even  with  the  percentage  30-15. 
—  W. 

\  In  the  original  table,  the  quantities  of  these  vegetables  are  en- 
tered according  to  their  value  in  kreutzers,  but  they  are  here  calcu- 
lated by  weight  from  the  above  data,  as  this  appeared  better  adapted 
for  comparison  in  this  country  than  the  prices  would  have  been.—  G 

§  According  to  the  table,  2752. 


ANALYTICAL  EVIDENCE.  277 

faeces  and  urine.  Sausages,  brandy,  beer,  in  short,  the 
small  quantity  of  food  taken  irregularly  in  the  alehouse, 
has  not  been  included  in  the  calculation. 

The  daily  allowance  of  bread,  being  uniformly  2  Ibs. 
per  man,  with  the  exceptions  formerly  mentioned,  has  not 
been  inserted  in  the  table,  which  includes  only  those 
matters  of  which,  from  the  daily  allowance  being  variable, 
an  average  was  required.  The  small  quantity  of  bread  in 
the  table  is  that  given  in  the  soup,  which  is  over  and 
above  the  daily  supply. 


24 


If 


;=;  -^  co  co  TJ< 


10      to 


no  «  0  Oi  W 
i°  i-(l>  TS-  ,-H 


1O  CO 
CO  tO 


w  5? 


;>  5^ 


H« 


* 


JSK 


§ 


J  05  Si  05  05      53 


lr. 

ol< 


ill 
;il 


:So|S|j 
2233 


-G      -*J  J 

33 


if* 


sr 


w 

?Sfii7 

e  2.tS-S|s 


5s  M'S 

"^  t«  .2  ?  fee 


ID 

h.  •  3  i    . 


l|2l! 


llll« 

it 


ANALYTICAL  EVIDENCE. 


279 


TABLE  II.  —  Note  IV.,  page  14.  a.  f 

FOOD    CONSUMED    BY    A    HORSE    IN    TWENTY-FOUR   HOURS. 


Weight 

Weight 

Salts 

Articles 

in  the 

in  the 

Carbon. 

Hydro- 

Oxy- 

Nitro- 

and 

of  food. 

fresh 

dry 

gen. 

gen. 

gen. 

earthy 

state. 

state. 

matters. 

Hay 

7500 

6465 

2961-0 

323-2 

2502-0 

97-0 

581-8 

Oats 

2270 

1927 

977-0 

123-3 

707-2 

42-4 

77-1 

Water 

16000 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

13-3 

Total 

25770 

8392 

3938-0 

446-5 

3209-2 

139-4 

672-2 

EXCRETIONS    OF    A    HORSE    IN    TWENTY-FOUR    HOURS. 


Excretions. 

Weight 
in  the 
fresh 
state. 

Weight 
in  the 
dry 

state. 

Carbon. 

Hydro- 
gen. 

Oxy- 
gen. 

Nitro- 
gen. 

Salts 
and 
earthy 
mat- 
ters. 

Urine 
Excrements 

1330 
14250 

302 
3525 

108-7 
1364-4 

11-5 

179-8 

34-1 
1328-9 

37-8 
77-6 

109-9 
574-6 

Total 

15580 

3627 

1473-1 

191-3 

1363-0 

115-4 

684-5 

Total  from 
the  previous 
part  of  this 
Table. 

25770 

8392 

3938-0 

446-5 

3209-2 

139-4 

672-2 

Difference 

10190 

4565 

2464-9 

255-2 

1846-2 

24-0 

12-3 

-for- 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

+ 

a  Boussingault,  Ann.  de  Ch.  et  de  Phys.,  LXX.  136.  The  weights 
in  this  table  are  given  in  grammes.  1  gramme  =  15-44  grains  Troy, 
very  nearly. 

t  The  discrepancy  between  the  results  of  Table  II.  and  those  given 


280 


APPENDIX. 


TABLE  II.  — Note  IV.,  page  14  (concluded}. 

FOOD    CONSUMED    BY   A    COW    IN   TWENTY-FOUR    HOURS. 


Salts 

Articles 

Weight 
in  the 

Weight 
in  tne 

Carbon. 

Hydro- 

Oxy- 

Nitro- 

and 
earthy 

of  food. 

fresh 

dry 

gen. 

gen. 

gen. 

mat- 

state. 

state. 

ters. 

Potatoes 

15000 

4170 

1839-0 

241-9 

1830-6 

50-0 

208-5 

After  Grass 

7500 

6315 

29744 

353-6 

2204-0 

151-5 

631-5 

Water 

60000 

— 

— 

— 

— 

—  • 

50-0 

Total 

82500 

10485 

4813-4 

595-5 

4034-6 

201-5 

890-0 

EXCRETIONS    OF    A    COW    IN    TWENTY-FOUR    HOURS. 


Excretions. 

Weight 
in  the 
fresh 
state. 

Weight 
in  the 
dry 
state. 

Carbon. 

Hydro- 
gen. 

Oxy- 

gen. 

Nitro- 
gen. 

Salts 
and 
earthy 
mat- 
ters. 

Excrements 
Urine 
Milk 

28413 
8200 
8539 

4000-0 
960-8 
1150-6 

1712.0 
261-4 

62S-2 

208-0 
250 
99-0 

1508-0 
253-7 
321-0 

92-0 
36-5 
46-0 

480-0 
384-2 
56-4 

Total 

45152 

6111-4 

2601-6 

332-0 

2082-7 

174-5 

920-6 

Total  of 
first  part  of 
this  Table. 

82500 

10485-0 

4813-4 

595-5 

4034-6 

201-5 

890-0 

Difference 

37348 

4373-6 

2211-8 

263-5 

1951-9 

27-0 

31-6 

+  or~ 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

+ 

in  the  Agricultural  Chemistry,  page  176,  arises  from  their  being  cal- 
culated on  2-02  per  cent,  of  nitrogen  in  hay,  and  0-33  per  cent,  in 
excrements.  —  W. 


ANALYTICAL  EVIDENCE. 


281 


NOTE  V.    P.  18. 

TEMPERATURE  OF  THE  BLOOD  AND  FREQUENCY  OF 
THE  PULSE. 

According  to  Prevost  and  Dumas. 


The  mean 
tcmpero-luro  is 

The  frequency 

of  the  pulse 

of  the  respiration 

F. 

in  the  minute. 

in  the  minute. 

In  the  Pigeon 

107-6° 

136 

34 

Common  Fowl     . 

106-7° 

140 

30 

Duck      .... 

108-5° 

170 

21 

Raven    .    .  '»    •/ 

108-5° 

110 

21 

Lark       .    .  ;>  .'-.£. 

117-2° 

200 

22 

Simia  Callitriche 

95-9° 

90 

30 

Guinea  Pig     .    . 

100-4° 

140 

36 

Dog  .     .    .    J5  V 

99-3° 

90 

28 

Cat    .    .  >  V  «V 

101-3° 

100 

24 

Goat       .... 

102-5° 

84 

24 

Hare      .... 

100-4° 

120 

36 

Horse     .... 

98-2° 

56 

16 

Man       .... 

98-6° 

72 

18 

Man  (Liebig)    .    . 

97-7° 

65 

17 

Woman  (Liebig) 

98-2° 

60 

15 

The  temperature  of  a  child  is  102-2°. 

The  temperature  of  the  human  body,  in  the  mouth  or 
in  the  rectum,  for  example,  is  from  97-7°  to  98-6°.  That 
of  the  blood  (Magendie)  is  from  100-6°  to  101-6°.  As  a 
mean  temperature,  99-5°  has  been  adopted  in  this  work, 
page  18. 


24* 


282 


APPENDIX. 


NOTE  VI.    P.  34. 

The  prisoners  in  the  house  of  arrest  at  Giessen  receive 
daily  1J  lb.  of  bread  (24  oz.),  which  contain  7J  oz.  of 
carbon.  They  receive,  besides,  1  lb.  of  soup  daily,  and 
on  each  alternate  day,  1  lb.  of  potatoes. 

]£  lb.  of  bread  contains         .        .    7-25  oz.  of  carbon. 
1    lb.  of  soup  contains        .        .        0-75        ditto. 
£  lb.  of  potatoes  contains      .        .    1-00        ditto. 

Total      .        .        9-00        ditto.f 


NOTE  VII.    P.  42. 

COMPOSITION  OF  THE  FIBRINE  AND  ALBUMEN  OF 
BLOOD,  a 


Albumen  from  Serum  of  Blood. 
Scherer.* 


Fibrine. 
Scherer.*  Mulder. 


I. 

53850 

6983 

15-673 


ii. 

55-461 

7-201 

15-673 


in. 
56-097 

6880 
15-681 


i. 

53-67J 
6-878 
15-763 


ii.  HI. 

54-454  54-56 

7-069  6-90 

15-762  15-72 


23-494      21-655      22-342        23-688      22-715      22-82 


Carbon    . 
Hydrogen 
Nitrogen 
Oxygen 
Sulphur 
Phosphorus   ) 
a  Annalen  der  Chem.  und  Pharm.,  XXVIII.,  74,  and  XL.,  33,  36. 

For  additional  analyses  of  animal  fibrine  and  albumen, 
see  Note  XXVII.,  which  also  contains  analyses  of  the 
various  animal  tissues. 


t  At  page  34  the  carbon  contained  in  the  daily  food  of  these  pris- 
oners is  calculated  at  8£  oz.,  and  the  Appendix  in  the  original  makes 
the  number  also  8-5,  apparently  by  an  error  in  adding  up  the  above 
numbers,  which  yield  the  sum  of  9  oz.  Possibly  there  may  be  an 
error  in  excess  in  the  proportion  of  carbon  calculated  for  the  soup, 
which,  in  that  case,  ought  to  be  0  25  oz.  —  G. 


ANALYTICAL  EVIDENCE. 


NOTE  VIII.    P.  47. 


COMPOSITION  OF  VEGETABLE  FIBRINE,  VEGETABLE 
ALBUMEN,  VEGETABLE  CASEINE,  AND  VEGETABLE 
GLUTEN. 


VEGETABLE  FIBRINE. 


GLUTEN. 


Scherer.*a 


I.  H.  ill. 

Carbon  .    .    53-064  546.03  54-617 

Hydrogen  .      7-132  7-302        7-491 

Nitrogen     .    15-359  15-809  15-809 
Oxygen       -\ 

Sulphur       V  24-445  22-285  22  083 
Phosphorus  J 


a  Ann.  der  Chem.  und  Pharm.,  XL., 

b  Ibid.,  XL.,  65. 

c  L.  Gmelin's  Theor.  Chemie.,  II.,  1092. 


As  obtained  from 
wheat  flour. 

Jones. *&  Marcet.c.     Bouisin- 

gault. 
IV.  I.  II. 

53-83      55-7      53.5 

7-02      14-5      15-0 

15-58        7-8        7-0 

2356      22-0      24-5 


7. 


VEGETABLE  ALBUMEN,  a 


From  Rye.  From  Wheat.  From  Gluten.  From  Almonds. 


Carbon  .    . 

Hydrogen 

Nitrogen 

Oxygen 

Sulphur 

Phosphorus 


Jones.* 

54-74 

7-77 
15-85 

21-64 


Carbon 
Hydrogen 
Nitrogen 
Oxygen,  &c. 


Jones.*  Varrentrapp  &  Will*    Jones*. 

55-01  54-85             57-03 

7-23  6-98               7-53 

15-92  15-88             13-48 


21-84 


Boussingault. 

52-7 
.  69 

18-4 
,  22-0 


22-39 


21-96 


Varrentrapp  and  Will.* 


15-70 


a  Ann.  der  Chem.  und  Pharm.,  XL.,  66,  and  XXXIX.,  291. 


284  APPENDIX. 

VEGETABLE  CASEINE.  a 


Sulphate  of  Caseine 

and  Potash. 
Scherer.*  Jones.*  Varrentrapp  and  Will. 


Carbon      ....    54-138            55-05  51-41            51-24 

Hydrogen  ....    7-156              7-59  7-83             6-77 

Nitrogen       .    .    .    15-672           15-89  14-48            13-23 
Oxygen,  &c.  .    .    .  23-034            21-47 

a  Ann.  der  Chem.  und  Pharra.,  XXXIX.,  291,  and  XL.,  8  and  67. 

VEGETABLE  GLUTEN. 

Jones.  *a  Boussingault. 


Carbon    .     . 

.    .    .    55-22 

54-2 

52-3 

Hydrogen 

.    .    .    7-42 

7-5 

6-5 

Nitrogen 

.    .    .    1598 

13-9 

18-9 

Oxygen,  &c. 

.    .    .  21-38 

24-4 

22-3 

a  Ann.  der  Chem.  und  Pharra.,  XL.,  66. 

The  pure  gluten,  analyzed  by  Jones,  was  that  portion 
of  the  raw  gluten  from  wheat  flour,  which  is  soluble  in  hot 
alcohol.  The  insoluble  portion  is  vegetable  fibrine,  the 
analysis  of  which  has  been  already  given. 


NOTE  IX.    P.  51. 
COMPOSITION  OF  ANIMAL  CASEINE.  a 

Scherer.* 


Carbon 
Hydrogen 
Nitrogen 
Oxygen  > 
Sulphur  ) 

a  Ann.  der  Chem.  und  Pharm.,  XL.,  40  et  seq. 

b  This  substance,  called,  in  German,  zieger,  is  contained  in  the 
whey  of  milk  after  coagulation  by  an  acid.  It  is  coagulated  by  heat, 
and  very  much  resembles  albumen. 


From  fresh 
milk. 

From  sour           From  milk  by 
milk.                 acetic  acid. 

Albuminous 
substance 

,  

.*,  v 

in  milk,  b 

I. 

II. 

in. 

IV. 

V.  ' 

54-825 

54-721 

54665 

54-580 

54-507 

7-153 

7-239 

7-465 

7-352 

6-913 

15-628 

15-724 

15-724 

15-696 

15-670 

22394 

22-316 

22-146 

22-372 

22-910 

ANALYTICAL  EVIDENCE.  285 

Mulder,  a 

Carbon 54-96 

Hydrogen                 v  7'15 

Nitrogen 1580 

Oxygen    .        .        .        .        .  2173 

Sulphur 0-36 

a,  For  the  analysis  of  vegetable  caseine,  see  the  preceding  note. 


NOTE  X.     P.  63. 

AMOUNT  OF  MATTER  SOLUBLE   IN   ALCOHOL  IN  THE 
SOLID    EXCREMENTS    OF    THE    HORSE    AND    COW. 

(WILL.*) 

18*3  grammes  of  dried  horse-dung  lost,  by  the  action 
of  alcohol,  0-995  gramme.  The  residue,  when  dry,  had 
the  appearance  of  saw-dust,  after  it  has  been  deprived,  by 
boiling,  of  all  soluble  matter. 

14-98  grammes  of  dry  cow-dung  lost,  by  the  same 
treatment,  0-625  gramme. 


NOTE  XL    P.  68. 
COMPOSITION  OF  STARCH,  a 

Strecker.* 


Calculated 

<  

From 

From 

From 

From 

Cis  Hio  Oio. 

Peas. 

Lentils. 

Bean*. 

Buckwheat. 

Carbon          44-91 

44-33 

44-46 

44-16 

44-23 

Hydrogen       6-11 

6-57 

6-54 

6-69 

6-40 

Oxygen         48-98 

49-09 

49-00 

49-15 

49-37 

286 


APPENDIX. 


Strecfcer.* 


r—  • 

From  maize.     From  horse-chestnuts.     From  wheat. 

Carbon           44-27               44-44               44-26 

i 

From  rye. 

44-16 

Hydrogen 
Oxygen 

6-67 
49-06 

6-47 
49-08 

6-70 
49-04 

6-64 
49-20 

Strecker.* 


Carbon 

From  rice. 

44-69 

From 
dahlia  roots. 

44-13 

From 
unripe  apples. 

44-10 

From 
unripe  pears. 

44-14 

Hydrogen 
Oxygen 

6-36 

48-95 

6-56 
49-31 

6-57 
49-33 

6-75 
49-11 

From  potatoes. 


From  arrow-root.     From  yams,  a 


Berzelius. 

Carbon  44-250 
Hydrogen  6-674 
Oxygen  49-076 


Gay  Lussac  &  Thenard.  Prout.  Ortigosa. 

43-55  44-40  44-2 

6-77  6-18  6-5 

49-68  49-42  49-3 


a  The  starch  employed  for  the  analyses,  made  by  Strecker  and  Or- 
tigosa, was  prepared  from  the  chemical  laboratory  at  Giessen,  from  the 
respective  seeds,  bulbs,  and  fruits. 


NOTE  XII.    P.  69. 


COMPOSITION  OF  GRAPE  SUGAR   (STARCH  SUGAR). 


Carbon 

Hydrogen 

Oxygen 


From  grapes. a    From  starch.6 
De  Saussure. 


36-71 

6-78 

56-51 


37-29 

6-84 

55-87 


From  honey,  c 
Prout. 

36-36 

7-09 

5655 


a  Ann/de  Chimie,  XI.,  381. 
b  Ann.  of  Philosophy,  VI.,  426. 
c  Philosoph.  Trans.  1827,  373. 


Calculated 
Ci2H14014. 

36-80 

7-01 

56-19 


ANALYTICAL  EVIDENCE. 

NOTE  XIII.    P.  70. 
COMPOSITION  OF  SUGAR  OF  MILK. 


287 


Gay  Luasac 

and  ThSnard.  Front. 

Carbon      38825  40-00 

Hydrogen    7-341  6-66 

Oxygen      53-834  53-34 


Calculated 

Brunn.        Berzelius.       Liebig.*    Ci2Hi2Oi2. 
40437        39474        40-00        40-46 
6-711          7-167          6-73          660 
52-852       53359        53-27        52-94 


NOTE  XIV.     P.  70. 
COMPOSITION  OF  GUM. 


Calculated 


Gay  Lussac 
and  Thenard. 

Carbon  42-23 

Hydrogen         6-93 
Oxygen          50-84 


NOTE  XV.    P.  72. 

ANALYSIS  OF  OATS   (BOUSSINGAULT).  a 
100  parts  of  oats  contain  of  dry  matter       .        .    84-9 


Gocbel. 

Berzelius. 

C12HnOi 

42-2 

42-682 

42-58 

6-6 

6-374 

6-37 

51-2 

50-944 

51-05 

Ditto 


water 


100  parts  of  oats  dried  at  212°  =  117-7  parts  dried  at 
the  ordinary  temperature,  contain 

Carbon     '-••£>  ».       • 
Hydrogen 
Oxygen        .        . 
Nitrogen      s.V;     . 
Ashes      *,  •**,.'"  •->? 

Water     .        .        .        . 

Oats  dried  in  the  air  .        .     117-7  contain,  in  100  parts, 

1-867  of  nitrogen. 

a  Ann.  de  Chirnie  et  de  Phys.,  LXXI.,  130. 


288  APPENDIX. 

ANALYSIS  OF  HAT. 

100  parts  of  hay  dried  in  the  air  contain  86  of  dry  matter, 

14  of  water. 

100 

100  parts  of  hay  dried  at  212°  =  116-2  parts  dried  in 
air,  contain 

Carbon 45-8 

Hydrogen  ....  5-0 
Oxygen  ....  38-7 
Nitrogen  ....  1*5 
Ashes 9-0 

100-0 
16-2  water, 


116-2  hay  dried  in  the  air. 

100-0  of  hay  dried  at  the  ordinary  temperature  contain  1-29 
of  nitrogen. 

240  oz.  of  such  hay  =  15  Ibs.  contain    3-095  oz.  of  nitrogen. 
72  oz.  of  oats          =  4£  Ibs.  contain    1-34          ditto. 

Total        4435 


NOTE  XVI.  (a.)    P.  74. 

AMOUNT  OF  CARBON  IN  FLESH  AND  IN  STARCH. 

100  parts  of  starch  contain  44  of  carbon  ;  therefore,  64 
oz.  (4  Ibs.)  contain  28*16  oz.  of  carbon. 

100  parts  of  fresh  meat  contain  13-6  of  carbon  (see 
Note  III.)  ;  hence  240  oz.  (15  Ibs.)  contain  32'64  oz.  of 
carbon. f 

t  By  an  error  in  calculation  in  the  original,  the  amount  of  carbon  in 
15  Ibs.  of  meat  Is  stated  to  be  27-64  oz.  It  follows,  that  the  carbon  of 
4  Ibs.  of  starch  is  not  equal,  as  stated  in  the  text,  to  that  of  15  Ibs.  of 
flesh,  but  to  that  of  13  Ibs.  This  difference,  however,  is  not  sufficient 
to  affect  the  argument  at  p.  81.  —  G. 


ANALYTICAL  EVIDENCE. 


289 


NOTE  XVI.  (b.)    P.  81. 
COMPOSITION  OF 


Hog's  lard. 

Mutton  fat. 
Chevreul.  a 

Human  fa 

Carbon     .... 
Hydrogen    .    .    . 
Oxygen    .... 

79-098 
11-146 
9-756 

78-996 
11-700 
9-304 

79-000 
11-416 
9-584 

a  Recherches  Chim.,  sur  les  corps  gras.    Paris.    1823. 


NOTE  XVII.    P.  81. 
COMPOSITION  OF  CANE  SUGAR. 


Berzelius. 

42-225 

6600 

5M75 


According  to 

Gay  Lussac    Calculated 
Prout.    W.  Crum.     Liebig.*  &Th6nard.  Ci2HuOn. 

42-86     4214     42-301     42-47     42-£8 
6-384       6-90       6-37 
51-315      50-63     51-05 


6-35 
5079 


6-42 
51-44 


Carbon 

Hydrogen 

Oxygen 

For  the  composition  of  gum  and  of  starch,  see  Notes 
(14)  and  (11). 


NOTE  XVIII.    P.  82. 
COMPOSITION  OF  CHOLESTERINE. 

According  to 
Chevreul.  a  Couerbe.J          Marchand. 

Carbon  85-095  84-895  84-90 

Hydrogen  11-880  12-099  12-00 

Oxygen  3-025  3-006  3-10 

a  Recherches  sur  les  corps  gras,  p.  185. 
b  Ann.  de  Ch.  et  de  Phys.,  LVL,  p.  164. 

25 


Calculated 
C36H320. 

84-641 

12-282 

3-077 


290  APPENDIX. 

NOTE  XIX.    P.  84. 
THE  PRODUCTION  OF  WAX  FROM  SUGAR,  a 

As  soon  as  the  bees  have  filled  their  stomach,  or  what 
is  called  the  honey  bladder,  with  honey,  and  cannot  de- 
posit it  for  want  of  cells,  the  honey  passes  gradually  in 
large  quantity  into  the  intestinal  canal,  where  it  is  digest- 
ed. The  greater  part  is  expelled  as  excrement ;  the  rest 
enters  the  fluids  of  the  bee.  In  consequence  of  this  great 
flow  of  juices,  a  fatty  substance  is  produced,  which  oozes 
out  on  the  eight  spots  formerly  mentioned,  which  occur 
on  the  four  lower  scales  of  the  abdominal  rings,  and  soon 
hardens  into  laminae  of  wax.  On  the  other  hand,  when 
the  bees  can  deposit  their  honey,  only  so  much  enters 
the  intestinal  canal  as  is  necessary  for  their  support. 
The  honey  bladder  need  not  be  filled  with  honey  longer 
than  forty  hours  in  order  to  bring  to  maturity,  on  the  eight 
spots,  eight  laminae  of  wax,  so  that  the  latter  fall  off.  I 
made  the  experiment  of  giving  to  bees,  which  I  had 
enclosed  in  a  box  with  their  queen  about  the  end  of  Sep- 
tember, dissolved  sugar  candy  instead  of  honey.  Out  of 
this  foo  laminae  of  wax  were  formed  ;  but  these  would 
not  separate  and  fall  off  readily,  so  that  the  mass,  which 
continued  to  ooze  out,  remained,  in  most  of  the  bees, 
hanging  to  the  upper  lamina  ;  and  the  laminae  of  wax 
became  as  thick  as  four  under  ordinary  circumstances. 

a  From  F.  W.  Gundlach's  Natural  History  of  Bees,  p.  115.  Cassel, 
1842.  We  are  acquainted  with  no  more  beautiful  or  convincing  proof 
of  the  formation  of  fatty  matter  from  sugar,  than  the  following  process 
of  the  manufacture  of  wax  by  the  bee,  as  taken  from  observation. 


ANALYTICAL  EVIDENCE.  29 1 

The  abdominal  scales  of  the  bees  were,  by  means  of  the 
wax,  distinctly  raised,  so  that  the  waxen  laminae  pro- 
jected between  them.  On  examination,  I  found  that  these 
thick  laminae,  which  under  the  microscope  exhibited  sev- 
eral lamellae,  had  a  sloping  surface  downwards  near  the 
head,  and  upwards  in  the  vicinity  of  the  tail.  The  first 
waxen  lamina,  therefore,  must  have  been  pushed  down- 
wards by  the  second,  because,  where  the  abdominal 
scales  are  attached  to  the  skin,  there  is  no  space  for  two 
laminae,  the  second  by  the  third,  and  thus  the  inclined  sur- 
faces on  the  sides  of  the  thick  laminae  had  been  produced. 
I  saw  distinctly  from  this,  that  the  first-formed  laminae  are 
detached  by  those  which  follow.  The  sugar  had  been 
converted  into  wax  by  the  bees,  but  it  would  seem  that 
there  was  some  imperfection  in  the  process,  as  the  laminae 
did  not  fall  off,  but  adhered  to  the  succeeding  ones. 

In  order  to  produce  wax  in  the  manner  described,  the 
bees  require  no  pollen,  but  only  honey.  I  have  placed, 
even  in  October,  bees  in  an  empty  hive,  and  fed  them 
with  honey;  they  soon  formed  comb,  although  the  weather 
was  such  that  they  could  not  leave  the  hive.  I  cannot, 
therefore,  believe  that  pollen  furnishes  food  for  the  bees, 
but  I  think  they  only  swallow  it  in  order,  by  mixing  it 
with  honey  and  water,  to  prepare  the  liquid  food  for  the 
grubs.  Besides,  bees  often  starve  in  April,  when  their 
stock  of  honey  is  consumed,  and  when  they  can  obtain  in 
the  fields  abundance  of  pollen,  but  no  honey.  When 
pressed  by  hunger,  they  tear  the  nymphae  out  of  the  cells, 
and  gnaw  them  in  order  to  support  life  by  the  sweet  juice 
which  they  contain.  But,  if  in  this  condition  they  are 
not  artificially  fed,  or  if  the  fields  do  not  soon  yield  their 


292  APPENDIX. 

proper  food,  they  die  in  the  course  of  a  few  days.  Now, 
if  the  pollen  were  really  nourishment  for  bees,  they  ought 
to  be  able  to  support  life  on  it,  mixed  with  water. 

Bees  never  build  honeycomb  unless  they  have  a  queen, 
or  are  provided  with  young  out  of  which  they  can  educate 
a  queen.  But  if  bees  be  shut  up  in  a  hive  without  a 
queen,  and  fed  with  honey,  we  can  perceive  in  forty-eight 
hours  that  they  have  laminae  of  wax  on  their  scales,  and 
that  some  have  even  separated.  The  building  of  cells  is, 
therefore,  voluntary,  and  dependent  on  certain  conditions, 
but  the  oozing  out  of  wax  is  involuntary. 

One  might  suppose,  that  a  large  proportion  of  these 
laminae  must  be  lost,  since  the  bees  may  allow  them  to 
fall  off,  out  of  the  hive  as  well  as  in  it ;  but  the  Creator 
has  wisely  provided  against  such  a  loss.  If  we  give  to 
bees  engaged  in  building  cells  honey  in  a  flat  dish,  and 
cover  the  dish  with  perforated  paper,  that  the  bees  may 
not  be  entangled  in  the  honey,  we  shall  find,  after  a  day, 
that  the  honey  has  disappeared,  and  that  a  large  number 
of  laminae  are  lying  on  the  paper.  It  would  appear  as  if 
the  bees  which  have  carried  off  the  honey,  had  let  fall  the 
scales  ;  but  it  is  not  so.  For,  if  above  the  paper  we  lay 
two  small  rods,  and  on  these  a  board,  overhanging  the 
dish  on  every  side,  so  that  the  bees  can  creep  under  the 
board  and  obtain  the  honey,  we  shall  find  next  day  the 
honey  gone,  but  no  lamina  on  the  paper  ;  while  laminae 
will  be  found  in  abundance  on  the  board  above.  The 
bees,  therefore,  which  go  for  and  bring  the  honey,  do 
not  let  fall  the  laminae  of  wax,  but  only  those  bees  which 
remain  hanging  to  the  top  of  the  hive.  Repeated  experi- 
ments of  this  kind,  have  convinced  me  that  the  bees,  as 


ANALYTICAL  EVIDENCE.  293 

soon  as  their  laminae  of  wax  are  mature,  return  to  the 
hive  and  remain  at  rest,  just  as  caterpillars  do,  when 
about  to  change.  In  a  swarm  that  is  actively  employed  in 
building,  we  may  see  thousands  of  bees  hanging  idly  at 
the  top  of  the  hive.  These  are  all  bees  whose  laminae  of 
wax  are  about  to  separate.  When  they  have  fallen  off, 
the  activity  of  the  bee  revives,  and  its  place  is  occupied 
for  the  same  purpose  by  another. 

[From  page  28  of  the  same  work.]  In  order  to  ascer- 
tain how  much  honey  bees  require  to  form  wax,  and  how 
often,  in  a  swarm  engaged  in  building,  the  lamina?  attain 
maturity  and  fall  off,  I  made  the  following  experiment, 
which  appears  to  me  not  uninteresting. 

On  the  29th  of  August,  of  this  year  (1841),  at  a  time 
when  the  bees  could  obtain  in  this  district  no  further  sup- 
ply of  honey  from  the  fields,  I  emptied  a  small  hive,  placed 
the  bees  in  a  small  wooden  hive,  having  first  selected  the 
queen  bee,  and  shut  her  up  in  a  box,  furnished  with  wires, 
which  I  placed  in  the  only  door  of  the  hive,  so  that  no 
embryos  could  enter  the  cells.  I  then  placed  the  hive  in 
a  window,  that  I  might  be  able  to  watch  it. 

At  6  P.  M.  I  gave  the  bees  6  oz.  of  honey  run  from  the 
closed  cells,  which  had  thus  the  exact  consistence  of 
freshly  made  honey.  This  had  disappeared  next  morning. 
In  the  evening  of  the  30th,  I  gave  the  bees  6  oz.  more, 
which,  in  like  manner  was  removed  by  the  next  morning  ; 
but  already  some  laminae  of  wax  were  seen  lying  on  the 
paper  with  which  the  honey  was  covered.  On  the  31st 
August  and  the  1st  September,  the  bees  had  in  the  even- 
ing 10  oz.,  and  on  the  3d  of  September  in  the  evening 
7  oz. ;  in  all,  therefore,  1  Ib.  13  oz.  of  honey,  which  had 
25* 


294  APPENDIX. 

run  cold  out  of  cells  which  the  bees  had  already  closed. 
On  the  5th  of  September  I  stupefied  the  bees,  by  means 
of  puff-ball,  and  counted  them.  Their  number  was  2,765, 
and  they  weighed  10  oz.  I  next  weighed  the  hive,  the 
combs  of  which  were  well  filled  with  honey,  but  the  cells 
not  yet  closed  ;  noted  the  weight,  and  then  allowed  the 
honey  to  be  carried  off  by  a  strong  swarm  of  bees.  This 
was  completely  effected  in  a  few  hours.  I  now  weighed 
it  a  second  time,  and  found  it  12oz.  lighter  ;  consequently 
the  bees  still  had  in  the  hive  12  oz.  of  the  29  oz.  of  honey 
given  to  them.  I  next  extracted  the  combs,  and  found 
that  their  weight  was  |  of  an  ounce.  I  then  placed  the 
bees  in  another  box,  provided  with  empty  combs,  and 
fed  them  with  the  same  honey  as  before.  In  the  first  few 
days  they  lost  daily  rather  more  than  1  oz.  in  weight,  and 
afterwards  half  an  ounce  daily,  which  was  owing  to  the 
circumstance,  that  from  the  digestion  of  so  much  honey, 
their  intestinal  canal  was  loaded  with  excrements  ;  for 
1,170  bees,  in  autumn,  when  they  have  been  but  a  short 
time  confined  to  the  hive,  weigh  4  oz.  ;  consequently 
2,765  bees  should  weigh  9  oz.  But  they  actually  weigh- 
ed 10  oz.,  and  therefore  had  within  them  1  oz.  of  excre- 
ment, for  their  honey  bladders  were  empty.  During  the 
night  the  weight  of  the  box  did  not  diminish  at  all,  be- 
cause the  small  quantity  of  honey  the  bees  had  deposited 
in  the  cells,  having  already  the  proper  consistence,  could 
not  lose  weight  by  evaporation,  and  because  the  bees 
could  not  then  get  rid  of  their  excrements.  For  this 
reason,  the  loss  of  weight  occurred  always  during  the 
day. 

If,  then,  the  bees,  in  seven   days,   required  3J  oz.   of 


ANALYTICAL   EVIDENCE.  295 

honey  to  support  and  nourish  their  bodies,  they  must  have 
consumed  13|  oz.  of  honey  in  forming  %  of  an  ounce  of 
wax  ;  and  consequently,  to  form  1  Ib.  of  wax,  20  Ibs.  of 
honey  are  required.  This  is  the  reason  why  the  strongest 
swarrns  in  the  best  honey  seasons,  when  other  hives,  that 
have  no  occasion  to  build,  often  gain  in  one  day  3  or 
4  Ibs.  in  weight,  hardly  become  heavier,  although  their 
activity  is  boundless.  All  that  they  gain  is  expended* in 
making  wax.  This  is  a  hint  for  those  who  keep  bees,  to 
limit  the  building  of  comb.  Cnauf  has  already  recom- 
mended this,  although  he  was  not  acquainted  with  the 
true  relations  of  the  subject.  From  1  oz.  of  wax,  bees 
can  build  cells  enough  to  contain  1  Ib.  of  honey. 

100  laminae  of  wax  weigh  0-024  gramme  (rather  more 
than  3  of  a  grain),  consequently,  1  kilogramme  (=  15,360 
grains)  will  contain  4,166,666  laminae.  Hence,  j-  of  an 
ounce  will  contain  81,367  laminae.  Now  this  quantity 
was  produced  by  2,765  bees  in  six  days  ;  so  that  the  bee 
requires  for  the  formation  of  its  8  laminae  (one  crop) 
about  thirty-eight  hours,  which  agrees  very  well  with  my 
observations. 

The  laminae,  when  formed,  are  as  white  as  bleached 
wax.  The  cells  also,  at  first,  are  quite  white,  but  they 
are  colored  yellow  by  the  honey,  and  still  more  by  the 
pollen.  When  the  cold  weather  comes  on,  the  bees  re- 
tire to  the  hive  under  the  honey,  and  live  on  the  stock 
they  have  accumulated. 

P.  54.  Many  believe  that  bees  are  hybernating  ani- 
mals ;  but  this  opinion  is  quite  erroneous.  They  are 
lively  throughout  the  winter ;  and  the  hive  is  always 
warm  in  consequence  of  the  heat  which  they  generate. 


296  APPENDIX. 

The  more  numerous  the  bees  in  a  hive,  the  more  heat  is 
developed  ;  and  hence  strong  hives  can  resist  the  most 
intense  cold.  It  once  happened  that  I  forgot  to  remove 
from  the  door,  which  was  unusually  large,  of  a  hive  in 
winter,  a  perforated  plate  of  tinned  iron,  which  I  had 
fastened  over  the  opening  to  diminish  the  heat  in  July  ; 
and  yet  this  hive  came  well  through  the  winter,  although 
th§  cold  was  very  severe,  having  been  for  several  days 
so  low  as  0°.  But  I  had  added  to  this  hive  the  bees  of 
two  other  hives  !  When  the  cold  is  very  intense,  the 
bees  begin  to  hum.  By  this  means  respiration  is  accele- 
rated and  the  development  of  heat  increased.  If,  in 
summer,  bees  without  a  queen  are  shut  up  in  a  glass  box, 
they  become  uneasy  and  begin  to  hum.  So  much  heat  is 
by  this  means  developed,  that  the  plates  of  glass  become 
quite  hot.  If  the  door  be  not  opened  in  this  case,  or  if 
air  be  not  admitted,  and  if  the  glass  be  not  cooled  by  the 
aid  of  water,  the  bees  are  soon  suffocated. 

XX.    COMPOSITION  OF  BEES'  WAX. 

Guy  Lussac  De  Saus-  Calculated 

and  Th6nard.a  sure.6  Oppermann.c  Killing. d  Hess.e  ConHonO. 

Carbon      81-784  81-607        81-291  81-15  81-52        81-39 

Hydrogen  12-672  13  859        14-073  13-75  13  23        13  29 

Oxygen       5-544          4-534*          4-636          5-09  5-25          5-32 

a  Traite  de  Chimie,  par  Thenard,  6me.  ed.,  IV.,  477. 

b  Ann.  de  Ch.  et  de  Phys  ,  XIII.,  310. 

c  Ibid.,  XLIX.,  224. 

d  Annal.  der  Pharm.,  II.,  267. 

e  Ibid.,  XXVII.,  6. 


ANALYTICAL  EVIDENCE.  297 


NOTE  XXI.  (a.)    P.  100. 

COMPOSITION  OF  HYDRATED  CYANURIC  ACID,  OF 
HYDRATED  CYANIC  ACID,  AND  OF  CYAMELIDE,  IN 
100  PARTS,  ACCORDING  TO  THE  ANALYSIS  OF 

Wohlcrand  Liebig*a 

Cyanuric  acid,  cyanic 

acid,  cyamelide. 

Carbon  .....        28-19 

Hydrogen 2-30 

Nitrogen 32-63 

Oxygen 36-87 

a  PoggendorfFs  Annalen,  XX.,  375  et  seq. 


NOTE  XXI.  (b.)     P.  100. 

COMPOSITION  OF  ALDEHYDE,  METALDEHYDE,  AND 
ELALDEHYDE  a 

Aldehyde.    Metaldehyde.     Elaldehyde.  Calculated 

Liebig.*  Fehling.*  C4  H*  Oz. 


Carbon  55-024  54511  54-620  54.467  55-024 
Hydrogen  8-983  9-054  9-248  9-075  8-983 
Oxygen  35-993  36-435  36-132  36-458  35-993 

a  Ann.  der  Pharm.,  XIV.,  142,  and  XXVII.,  319. 


NOTE  XXII.     P.  101. 
COMPOSITION  OF  PROTEINE. 

From  the         From  albumen.        From  fibrine. 
crystalline  lens. 

Scherer.*a 


Carbon    .     . 

.     55-300 

55-160 

54-848 

Hydrogen    . 

.      6-940 

7055 

6-959 

Nitrogen 

.     16-216 

15-966 

15-847 

Oxygen 

.     21-544 

21-819 

22-346 

298 


APPENDIX. 


Scherer.*a 


From  hair.                        From  horn.     C48  H36  N6  O14. 

Carbon 

54-746        55-150        55408        54-291 

55-756 

Hydrogen 

7-129          7-197          7-238          7-082 

6-826 

Nitrogen 

15-727        15-727        15-593        15-593 

16-142 

Oxygen 

22-398        21-926        21-761        23-034 

21-276 

a  Ann.  der  Chem.  und  Pharm.,  XL.,  43. 

From  vegetable      From              From 

From 

albumen.        fibrine.           albumen. 

cheese. 

Mulder.a 

Carbon 

.    .    54-99            55-44            55-30 

55.159 

Hydrogen 

.    .      6-87             6-95             6-94 

7-176 

Nitrogen 

.    .     15-66            16-05            1602 

15-857 

Oxygen 

.    .    22-48           21-56           21-74 

21-808 

a  Ann.  der  Pharm.,  XXVIII.,  75. 


NOTE  XXIII.    P.  103. 

COMPOSITION  OF  THE  ALBUMEN  OF  THE  YOLK  AND 
OF  THE  WHITE  OF  THE  EGG. a 


From  the  yolk. 
Jones.* 

From  the  white. 
Scherer  * 

55000 

53-72                53-45 

7-55                 7-66 

7-073 

1360                13-34 

15-920 

Carbon    . 

Hydrogen 

Nitrogen 

Oxygen         -\ 

Sulphur         (  25-13  25-55 

Phosphorus    ) 

a  Ann.  der  Chem.  und  Pharm.,  XL.,  36,  ibid.  67. 


22007 


NOTE  XXIV.    P.  107. 

COMPOSITION  OF  LACTIC  ACID. 

C6  Hs 

Carbon 44-92 

Hydrogen  6-11 

Oxygen  .        .        -.     \'       .        48-97 


ANALYTICAL  EVIDENCE.  299 

NOTE  XXV.    P.  111. 

GAS  FROM  THE   ABDOMEN  OF    COWS   AFTER  EATING 
CLOVER  TO  EXCESS,  OBTAINED  BY  PUNCTURE. 

a  Examined  by  Lameyran   and  Fremy.     b  By  Vogel. 
c  By  Pfluger. 


Air. 

a    5 

Carbonic  acid. 

5        — 

Inflammable  gas 

15 

Sulphuretted  hydrogen. 

80  Vol.  in  100  Vol. 

625 

—        2? 

48 

— 

c  — 

—        60 

40 

— 

c  — 

—        20 

80 

— 

NOTE  XXVI.    P.  113. 

MAGENDIE  FOUND  IN  THE  STOMACH  AND  INTESTINES 
OF  EXECUTED  CRIMINALS : 

a  In  the  case  of  an  individual  who  had  taken  food  in 
moderation  one  hour  previous  to  death  ;  6,  in  the  case  of 
one  who  had  done  so  two  hours  previously  ;  and  c,  in  the 
case  of  a  third,  who  had  done  so  four  hours  previous  to 
execution  :  — 

100  volumes  of  the  gas  contained 
Oxygen.  Nitrogen.     Carbonic    Inflam- 

acid.     mable  gai. 

(  From  the  stomach  11-00  Vol.   71-45        14-00        3-55 

a    <        —        small  intestines    00  00  20-03        24-39      55-53 

(        —        large  intestines    00-00  51-03        43-50        5-47 

C  From  the  stomach  00-00  00  00        00-00      00-00 

b    <        —        small  intestines    OO'OO  8-85        40.00      51-15 

f        _        large  intestines    0000  18-40        70-00      11-60 

C  From  the  stomach  00-00  0000        0000      0000 

c    <  small  intestines    00-00  66-60        25-00        8-40 

(       —        large  intestines    00  00  45-96        42-86      11-18 


300 


APPENDIX. 


NOTE  XXVII.  (referred  to  in  NOTE  VIL,  P.  43  and  121.) 


COMPOSITION    OF    ANIMAL    ALBUMEN   AND    FIBRINE, 
AND  OF  THE  DIFFERENT  TISSUES  OF  THE  BODY. 

1.  ALBUMEN. 


From  the  serum  of  blood. 

From  eggs. 

From  yolk  of  egg. 

Scherer.*a 

Jones.*6 

,. 

n. 

in. 

IV. 

V. 

VI. 

Carbon            53-850 

55-461 

55-097 

55-000 

53-72 

53-45 

Hydrogen         6-983 

7-201 

6-880 

7-073 

7-55 

7-66 

Nitrogen         15-673 

15-673 

15-681 

15-920 

13-60 

13-34 

Oxygen        "\ 

Sulphur       V  23-494 

21-655 

22342 

22-007 

25-13 

2555 

Phosphorus  ) 

a  Ann. 

der  Chem. 

und  Pharm.,  XL., 

36. 

6  Ibid., 

67. 

Jones.* 

Scherer.* 

From 

From 

From 

From 

albumen 

hydrocele. 

congestive.             From  pus. 

fluid  of 

of  braia. 

abscess. 

dropsy. 

VII. 

VIII. 

IS. 

X. 

XI. 

XII. 

Carbon              55-50 

54-921 

54757 

.  54-663 

54101 

54-302 

Hydrogen           7-19 

7-077 

7-171 

7-022 

6-947 

7-176 

Nitrogen           16-31 

15-465 

15-848 

15-839 

15-660 

15-717 

Oxygen        ^ 

Sulphur        V  21-00 

22-537 

22224 

22-476 

23-292 

22-805 

Phosphorus  J 

Mulder.a 

Carbon 

54-84 

Hydrogen 

7O9 

Nitrogen 

,        , 

.         . 

.         . 

15-83 

Oxygen 

. 

.     . 

. 

.    21-23 

Sulphur 

. 

. 

. 

0-68 

Phosphorus 

0-33 

a  Ann.  der  Pharm.,  XXVIIL,  74. 


ANALYTICAL  EVIDENCE. 


301 


2.    FlBRINE. 


Carbon 

Hydrogen 

Nitrogen 

Oxygen 

Sulphur 

Phosphorus 


Scherer.*  a 


I.               II.              III.            IV.              V.              VI.  VII. 

53-671    54-454    55002   54-967    53-571    54-686  54-844 

6878     7-069     7216     6867     6895     6-835  7*219 

15-763    15-762    15-817    15913    15-720    15-720  16065 

23688    22-715    21-965    22244    23814    22-759  21-872 
a  Ann.  der  Chem.  und  Pharm.,  XL.,  33. 


Carbon       ...... 

Hydrogen 

Nitrogen     ...... 

Oxygen  

Sulphur 

Phosphorus      .        .        . 

a  Ann.  der  Pharm.,  XXVIII.,  74. 


Mulder,  a 

54-56 

6-90 

15*72 

22-13 

0-33 

0-36 


Isinglass. 


3.  GELATINOUS  TISSUES. 

Scherer.*  a 


Tendons  of  the 
calf's  foot. 


Tunica 
sclerotica. 


Carbon  50-557  49-563  50-960  50774  50-995 
Hydrogen  6903  7-148  7-188  7-152  7-075 
Nitrogen  18-790  18470  18-320  18-320  18-723 
Oxygen  23750  24-819  23-532  23-754  23-207 
a  Ann.  der  Chem.  und  Pharm.,  XL.,  46. 


Calculated 


50-203 

7-000 

18-168 

24-629 


Mulder. 


Carbon     . 
Hydrogen 
Nitrogen 
Oxygen 


50.048  50-048 

6-477  6-643 

18-350  18-388 

25-125  24-921 


26 


302  APPENDIX. 

4.    TISSUES    CONTAINING    CfiONDRINE. 


Calculated 


Scherer.*a 


50-745 
6-904 
14-692 
27-659 

a  Ann.  der  Chem.  und  Pharm.,  XL.,  49. 


Cartilages  of  the 
ribs  of  the  calf. 

Cornea. 

49522 
7097 
14399 

28-982 

Carbon 
Hydrogen 
Nitrogen 
Oxygen 

49496 
7-133 

14-908 
28-463 

50-895 
6962 
14-908 
27-235 

Mulder. 

50-607 

6578 

14-437 

28-378 


5.  COMPOSITION  OF  THE  MIDDLE  MEMBRANE  OF  ARTERIES. 


Scherer.*o 


Carbon 
Hydrogen 
Nitrogen 
Oxygen    • 


I. 

53-750 

7-079 

15-360 

23-811 


n. 

53-393 

6-973 

15-360 

24-274 


a  Ann.  der  Chem.  und  Pharm.,  XL.,  51. 


Calculated 


54-10 

6-64 

15.67 

23.59 


6.  COMPOSITION  OF  HORNY  TISSUES. 

Scherer.*a 


External  skin  Hair  of 

of  the  sole  of  the  foot,  the  beard. 


Carbon        51-036  50  752 

Hydrogen     6-801  6-761 

Nitrogen     17-225  17-225 
Oxygen   > 

Sulphur  I  24'938  25'262 


51-529 

6-687 

17-936 


Hair  of  the  head. 
Fair.        Brown.        Black. 

50^652  49-345  "^50-622  49-935 

6-769  6576   6613   6631 

17-936  17936  17-936  17-936 


23'848      24>643    26'143    24'829    25'498 


Scherer.* 


Buffalo  IK 


Nails.       Wool.      Calculated 


Carbon  51-990  51-102  51-620  51540  51-089  50-653  51.890 
Hydrogen  6-717  6597  6754  6-779  6-824  7-029  6542 
Nitrogen  17-284  17-284  17-284  17284  16901  17-710  17-525 


Oxygen 
Sulphur 


24-009  24-957  24342  24-397    25-186    24-608      24-043 


a  Ann.  der  Chem.  und  Pharm.,  XL  ,  53. 


ANALYTICAL  EVIDENCE.  303 

The  composition  of  the  membrane  lining  the  interior  of 
the  shell  of  the  egg,  approaches  closely  to  that  of  horn. 
According  to  Scherer,  it  contains 

Scherer.*  a 

Carbon      .        .        .        .'      .        .        .    50-674 

Hydrogen      ......          6-608 

Nitrogen  ......     16761 


25-957 

Sulphur 

a  Ann.  der  Chem.  und  Pharm.,  XL.,  60. 


The  composition  of  feathers  is  also  nearly  the  same  as 
that  of  horn. 

Scherer.*  a 


Beard  of  the 

Quill  of  the      Calculated 

feather. 

feather.      C48  H39  N7  Oie 

Carbon    . 

.    50-434 

52-427        52633 

Hydrogen    . 

7-110 

7-213          6-637 

Nitrogen 

.     17-682 

17-893        17-778 

Oxygen 

24-774 

22-467        22-953 

The  analysis  here  given  of  the  beard  of  feathers  agrees 
closely  with  that  of  horn,  while  that  of  the  quill  is  more 
accurately  represented  by  the  attached  formula,   which 
differs  from  that  of  horn  by  1  eq.  of  oxygen  only. 
a  Ann.  der  Chem.  und  Pharm.,  XL.,  61. 

7.  COMPOSITION  OF  THE  PIGMENTUM  NIGRUM  OCULI. 

Scherer.*  a 


Carbon  .  .  •.  58-273  58-672  57-908 
Hydrogen  .  .  5-973  5-962  5-817 
Nitrogen  .  .  13-768  13-768  13-768 
Oxygen  .  .  21-986  21-598  22-507 
a  Ann.  der  Chem.  und  Pharm.,  XL.,  63. 


304 


APPENDIX. 


NOTE  XXVIII.    P.  127. 

According  to  the  analyses  of  Playfair  and  Boeckmann, 

0-452  parts  of  dry  muscular  flesh  gave  0-836  of  carbonic  acid. 

0-407 0-279  of  water.  [of  water. 

0-242 0-450  of  carbonic  acid  and  0-164 

0-191 0-360         .        .        .         0-130 

0-305  of  dried  blood  gave  0-575  carbonic  acid  and  0-202  of  water. 

0-214        .        .        .         0-402        .        .        .      0138 

1-471  of  dried  blood,  when  calcined,  left  0-065  of  ashes  =  4  42  per  cent. 

The  dried  flesh  was  found  to  contain  of  ashes      4  23  per  cent. 

The  nitrogen  was  found  to  be  to  the  carbon  as  1  to  8  in  equivalents. 


Hence 

Flesh  (beef).                Ox-blood. 

Blood. 

Mean  of  2 

Playfair. 

Boeckmann. 

Playfair. 

Boeckmann. 

analyses. 

Carbon 

51-83 

51-89 

51-95 

51-96 

51-96 

Hydrogen 

7'57 

7-59 

7-17 

7-33 

7-25 

Nitrogen 

15-01 

15-05 

15-07 

15-08 

15-07 

Oxygen 

21-37 

21-24 

21-39 

21-21 

21-30 

Ashes 

4-23 

4-23 

4.42 

4-42 

4-42 

Deducting  the  ashes,  or  inorganic  matter,  the  compo- 
sition of  the  organic  part  is, 

Carbon         .        .    5412        54-18        54-19  54-20 

Hydrogen         .          7-89          7-93          7-48  7-65 

Nitrogen      .        .    15-67        15-71        1572  15-73 

Oxygen     .        .        22-32        22-18        22-3!  22-12 

This  corresponds  to  the  formula 

C48 V  '  .  54-81 

H39 ,        r  691 

N6 .  15-87 

019                   .        .        .        .  22-41 


ANALYTICAL  EVIDENCE. 


305 


NOTE  XXIX.    p.  128. 
COMPOSITION  OF  CHOLEIC  ACID,  a 

Calculated 


Carbon 

Demarcay.                       Dumas.                 C76HC6N2O22. 

63707                  63-5                  63-25 

Hydrogen 
Nitrogen  . 
Oxygen 

.      8-821                    9-3 
3255                    33 
.    24-217                   23-9 

8-95 
3-85 
2395 

a  Ann.  der  Pharm.,  XXVII.,  284  and  293. 

NOTE  XXX.    P.  128. 

COMPOSITION  OF  TAURINE  AND  OF  CHOLO1DIC  ACID. 

1.  TAURIINE.  a 

Carbon 

Demarcay.*                      Dumas. 

.        .     19-24                   1926 

Calculated 
C4H7N010. 

19-47 

Hydrogen 
Nitrogen 
Oxygen 

5-78                     5-66  '. 
.     11-29                   11-19 
63-69                   63-89 

5-56 
11-28 
63-69 

a  Ann.  der  Pharm.,  XXVII.,  287  and  292. 

2.  CHOLOIDIC  ACID,  a 

Demarcay.* 
I.                           11. 

Calculated 

Carbon 

.    73-301            73522           73-3 

74-4 

Hydrogen 
Oxygen    . 

3*.^      9-511              9-577              9.7 
.     17-188            16-901            17-0 

9-4 
16-2 

a  Ann.  der  Pharm.,  XXVII.,  289  and  293. 

In  reference  to  the  researches  of  Demar^ay  on  the  bile 
I  would  make  the  following  observations. 

The  matter  to  which  I  have  given  the  name  of  choleic 
acid  is  the  bile  itself  separated  from  the  inorganic  con- 
stituents (salts,  soda,  &c.)  which  it  contains.  By  the 
action  of  subacetate  of  lead  aided  by  ammonia,  all  the 
26* 


306  APPENDIX. 

organic  constituents  of  the  bile  are  made  to  unite  with 
oxide  of  lead,  with  which  they  form  an  insoluble,  resinous 
precipitate.  The  substance  here  combined  with  oxide  of 
lead  contains  all  the  carbon  and  nitrogen  of  the  bile. 
The  substance  which  I  have  named  choloidic  acid  is  that 
which  is  obtained,  when  the  bile,  purified  by  alcohol  from 
the  substances  insoluble  in  that  fluid,  is  boiled  for  some 
time  with  an  excess  of  muriatic  acid.  It  contains  all  the 
carbon  and  hydrogen  of  the  bile,  except  those  portions 
which  have  separated  in  the  form  of  taurine  and  ammonia. 
The  cholic  acid  contains  the  elements  of  bile,  minus  those 
of  carbonate  of  ammonia. 

These  three  compounds,  therefore,  contain  the  products 
of  the  metamorphosis  of  the  entire  bile  ;  their  formulae 
express  the  amount  of  the  elements  of  the  constituents  of 
the  bile.  No  one  of  them  exists  ready  formed  in  the  bile 
in  the  shape  in  which  we  obtai?  it  ;  their  elements  are 
combined  in  a  different  way  from  that  in  which  they  were 
united  in  the  bile  ;  but  the  way  in  which  these  elements 
are  arranged  has  not  the  slightest  influence  on  the  deter- 
mination by  analysis  of  the  relative  proportions  of  the 
elements.  In  the  formulas  themselves,  therefore,  is  in- 
volved no  hypothesis  ;  they  are  simply  expressions  of  the 
results  of  analysis.  It  signifies  nothing  that  the  choleic 
or  choloidic  acids  may  be  composed  of  several  compounds 
united  together.  No  matter  .how  many  such  they  may 
contain,  the  relative  proportions  of  all  the  elements  taken 
together  is  expressed  by  the  formula  which  is  derived 
from  the  analysis. 

The  study  of  the  products  which  are  produced  from  the 
bile  by  the  action  of  the  atmosphere,  or  of  chemical  re- 


ANALYTICAL  EVIDENCE.  307 

agents,  may  be  of  importance  in  reference  to  certain  pa- 
thological conditions  ;  but  except  as  concerns  the  general 
character  of  the  bile,  the  knowledge  of  these  products 
is  of  no  value  to  the  physiologist  ;  it  is  only  a  burden 
which  impedes  his  progress.  It  cannot  be  maintained  of 
any  one  of  the  38  or  40  substances,  into  which  the  bile 
has  been  divided  or  split  up,  that  it  exists  ready  formed 
in  the  healthy  secretion  ;  on  the  contrary,  we  know  with 
certainty  that  most  of  them  are  mere  products  of  the  ac- 
tion of  the  reagents  which  are  made  to  act  on  the  bile. 

The  bile  contains  soda  ;  but  it  is  a  most  remarkable 
and  singular  compound  of  soda.  When  we  cause  that 
part  of  the  bile  which  dissolves  in  alcohol  (which  contains 
nearly  all  the  organic  part)  to  combine  with  oxide  of  lead, 
thus  separating  the  soda,  and  then  remove  the  oxide  of 
jead,  we  obtain  a  substance,  choleic  acid,  which,  when 
placed  in  contact  with  soda,  forms  a  compound  similar  to 
bile  in  its  taste  ;  but  it  is  no  longer  bile  ;  for  bile  may  be 
mixed  with  organic  acids,  nay,  even  with  dilute  mineral 
acids,  without  becoming  turbid  or  yielding  a  precipitate  ; 
while  the  new  compound,  choleate  of  soda,  is  decomposed 
by  the  feeblest  acids,  the  whole  of  the  choleic  acid  being 
separated.  Hence,  bile  cannot  be  considered,  in  any 
sense,  as  choleate  of  soda.  Further,  it  may  be  asked,  in 
what  form  are  the  cholesterine,  and  stearic,  and  margaric 
acids,  which  are  found  in  bile,  contained  in  that  fluid  ? 
Cholesterine  is  insoluble  in  water,  and  not  saponifiable  by 
alkalies  ;  and  if  the  two  fatty  acids  just  named  were 
really  present  in  the  bile  as  soaps  of  soda,  they  would  be 
instantly  separated  by  other  acids.  Yet  diluted  acids 
cause  no  such  separation  of  stearic  and  margaric  acids 
in  bile. 


308  APPENDIX. 

It  is  possible  that,  in  the  course  of  new  and  repeated 
investigations,  the  composition  of  substances  obtained 
from  bile  may  be  found  different  from  that  which  has  been 
given  in  our  analytical  development  of  this  subject. 
But  this,  if  it  should  happen,  can  have  but  little  effect  on 
our  formulas  ;  if  the  relative  proportions  of  carbon  and 
nitrogen  be  not  changed,  the  differences  will  be  confined 
to  the  proportions  of  oxygen  and  hydrogen.  In  that  case 
it  will  be  necessary  for  the  development  of  our  views  in 
formulas,  only  to  assume  that  more  water  and  oxygen,  or 
less  water  and  oxygen,  have  taken  a  share  in  the  meta- 
morphosis of  the  tissues  ;  but  the  truth  of  the  develop- 
ment of  the  process  itself  will  not  be  by  this  means 
affected.  

NOTE  XXXI.    P.  129. 
COMPOSITION  OF  CHOLIC  ACID,  a 

Dumas.  Calculated  C74H6oOi8. 

Carbon 68-5  68-9 

Hydrogen     ....          97  9-2 

Oxygen 21-8  21-9 

a  Ann.  der  Pharm.,  XXVII.,  295. 


NOTE  XXXII.    P.   131. 

COMPOSITION  OF  THE  CHIEF   CONSTITUENTS  OF  THE 
URINE  OF  MEN  AND  ANIMALS. 

1.  URIC  ACID. 

Liobig.*o  Mitscherlich.  b    Calculated  CioH^Oe. 

Carbon  .  .  36-0&3  35-82  36-01 

Hydrogen  .  2441  2.38  2-35 

Nitrogen.  .  33-361  34-60  33-37 

Oxygen  .  28126  27-20  28-27 

a  Ann.  der  Pharm.,  X.,  47. 

b  Poggendorff's  Ann.,  XXXIII.,  335. 


ANALYTICAL  EVIDENCE. 


309 


2.  ALLOXAN.  a 
A  PRODUCT  OF  THE  OXIDATION  OF  URIC  ACID. 

Wohler  and  Liebig.*      Calculated  C8  H4  Na  ' 

.    30-38            ~~30-18  30-34 

2-57                 2-48  2-47 

.    17-96                17-96  ]7-55 

49-09               49-38  49-64 
a  Ann.  der  Pharm.,  XXVI.,  260. 

a  UREA. 


Carbon 
Hydrogen 
Nitrogen 
Oxygen 


Calculated 

Prout.  a 

Wohler  and  Liebig.  b 

C2  H4  N2  02. 

19-99 

20-02 

20-J92 

6-65 

6-71 

6-595 

46-65 

46-73 

46-782 

26-63 

26-54 

26-425 

a  Thomson's  Annals,  XL,  352. 
b  Poggend.  Ann.,  XX.,  375. 

4.  CRYSTALLIZED  HIPPURIC  ACID. 


Liebig.*  a  Dumas,  b 

Carbon           60-742  60-5 

Hydrogen        4-959  4-9 

Nitrogen          7-816  7-7 

Oxygen          26483  26-9 


Calculated 
Mitscherlich.  c    C18H8  NO5  -f  HO. 

60-63  60-73 

4-98  4-96 

7-90  7-82 

26-49  26-49 


a  Ann.  der  Pharm.,  XII.,  20. 

b  Ann.  de  Ch.  et  de  Phys.,  LVIL,  327. 

c  Poggend.  Ann.,  XXXIII.,  335. 


Carbon 
Hydrogen 
Nitrogen 
Oxygen    , 


5.  ALLANTOIXE.  a 

Wohler  and  Liebig.* 

.     30-60 

3-83 

.    35-45 

30-12 


Calculated  C8  H6  N4  O6. 

30-66 

3-75 

35-50 

30-09 


a  Ann.  der  Pharm.,  XXVL,  215. 


310 


APPENDIX. 


6.  URIC  OR  XANTHIC  OXIDE,  a 


Carbon 
Hydrogen 
Nitrogen 
Oxygen    , 


Wbhler  and  Licbig.* 

.    39-28 

2-95 

.    36-35 

21-24 


Calculated  Cs  H2  N2  O2. 

39-76 

260 

36-84 

20-80 


a  Ann.  der  Pharm.,  XXVI.,  344. 


Carbon 
Hydrogen 
Nitrogen 
Oxygen     . 
Sulphur 


7.  CYSTIC  OXIDE,  a 

Thaulow.* 

.    30-01 
5-10 

.    11-00 

28-38 

,    25-51 


Calculated  C6  H6  NO4  S2. 

30-31 
4-94 
11-70 
26-47 
26-58 


a  Ann.  der  Pharm.,  XXVII.,  200. 

The  cystic  oxide  is  distinguished  from  all  the  other 
concretions  occurring  in  the  urinary  bladder  by  the  sul- 
phur it  contains.  It  can  be  shown  with  certainty,  that 
the  sulphur  is  present  neither  in  the  oxidized  state,  nor  in 
combination  with  cyanogen  ;  and  in  regard  to  its  origin 
the  remark  is  not  without  interest,  that  four  atoms  of 
cystic  oxide  contain  the  elements  of  uric  acid,  benzoic 
acid,  sulphuretted  hydrogen  and  water ;  all  of  which  are 
substances,  the  occurrence  of  which  in  the  body  is  be- 
yond all  doubt. 


1  atom  uric  acid  .  . 
1  atom  benzoic  acid 
8  atoms  sulphuret-  ) 
ted  hydrogen  ) 
7  atoms  water  . 


H8       S, 
H707 


4  atoms  cystic  oxide  =C24N4  H24OI6S8  =  4  (C6  NH6  O4  S2). 


ANALYTICAL  EVIDENCE. 


311 


An  excellent  method  of  detecting  the  presence  of  cystic 
oxide  in  calculi  or  gravel  is  the  following  : 

The  calculus  is  dissolved  in  a  strong  solution  of  caustic 
potash,  and  to  the  solution  is  added  so  much  of  a  solution 
of  acetate  of  lead,  that  all  the  oxide  of  lead  is  retained  in 
solution.  When  this  mixture  is  boiled  there  is  formed  a 
black  precipitate  of  sulphuret  of  lead,  which  gives  to  the 
liquid  the  aspect  of  ink.  Abundance  of  ammonia  is  also 
disengaged  ;  and  the  alkaline  fluid  is  found  to  contain, 
among  other  products,  oxalic  acid. 


NOTE  XXXIII.    P.  131. 

COMPOSITION  OF   OXALIC,   OXALURIC,   AND  PARABA- 
NIC   ACIDS. 


1.  OXALIC  ACID  (hydrated). 

Gay  Lussac  &  Th6nard.  Berthollet. 

Carbon    .     .    26566  25-13 

Hydrogen     .      2-715  3-09 

Oxygen    .    .    70-689  71-78 


Calculated 
C2  03  +  HO. 

27-04 

2-21 

70-75 


Carbon 

Wbhler  and 

.    27-600 

Liebig.* 

27-318 

Calculated 
C6  H4  N2  08. 

27-59 

Hydrogen 
Nitrogen  . 
Oxygen     . 

.      3.122 

.    21.218 
.    48-060 

3-072 
21-218 

48-392 

3-00 
21-29 
48-12 

a  Ann.  der  Pharm.,  XXVI.,  289. 
3.   PARABANIC  ACID,  a 

Wohler  and  Liebig.* 


Carbon    .     .     .    31-95 

31-940 

31-91 

Hydrogen    .    .      2-09 
Nitrogen     .     .    2466 
Oxygen       .    .    41-30 

1-876 
24-650 
41-534 

1-73 
24-62 
41-74  f 

Ann.  der  Pharm.,  XXVI.,  286. 

t  Calculated  C- 

H!  NI  O3. 

312  APPENDIX. 

NOTE   XXXIV.    P.  132. 
COMPOSITION  OF  ROASTED  FLESH. 

(1.)  0.307  of  flesh  gave  0-584  of  carbonic  acid  and  0-206  of  water. 
(2.)  0-255        do.  0-485  do.  0-181        do. 

(3.)  0-179        do.  0-340  do.  0-125        do. 

Hence  — 

Flesh  of  roedeer  (1).    Flesh  of  beef  (2).    Flesh  of  veal  (3). 

Carbon    . 
Hydrogen 
Nitrogen 
Oxygen  ? 
Ashes     S 


NOTE  XXXV.    P.  135. 

The  formula  C108  H84  N18  O^,  or  C54  H42  N9  O20,  gives, 

when  reduced  to  100  parts, 

C64 50-07 

H^       .        .        .        .        .      6-35 

N9 19-32 

020 24-26 

Compare  this  with  the  composition  of  gelatine,  as  given 

in  Note  (27). 


Boeckmann.* 

Playfair.* 

52-60 

52-590 

52-52 

7-45 

7-886 

7-87 

15-23 

15-214 

14-70 

24-72 

24-310 

24-91 

NOTE  XXXVII.    P.  146. 

COMPOSITION  OF  LITHOFELLIC  ACID,  a 

Calculated 
Ettling  and  Will.*  Wohler.      €40  H36  O8. 


Carbon  .  .  71-19  70-80  .  70-23  70-83  70-99 
Hydrogen  .  10-85  10-78  10-95  10-60  10-44 
Oxygen  .  .  17-96  18-42  18-92  18-57  18-57 

a  Ann.  der  Chem.  und  Pharm.,  XXXIX.,  242.,  XLL,  154. 


ANALYTICAL  EVIDENCE.  313 


NOTE  XXXVIII.    P.  168. 

COMPOSITION  OF   SOLANINE  FROM  THE   BUDS    OF 
GERMINATING  POTATOES,  a 

Blancbet. 

Carbon  ....  62-11 
Hydrogen  .  .  .  8-92 
Nitrogen  .^  .  .  .  1-64 
Oxygen  ....  27-33 
a  Ann.  der  Pharm.,  VII.,  150. 


NOTE  XXXIX.    P.  168. 

COMPOSITION  OF  PICROTOX1NE.  a 

Francis.* 

Carbon          .  60-26 

Hydrogen  .  .  .  5-70 
Nitrogen  ....  1-30 
Oxygen  .  .  .  32-74 

a  In  another  analysis,  M.  Francis  obtained  0-75  per  cent,  of  nitro- 
gen. The  picrotoxine  employed  for  these  analyses  was  partly  ob- 
tained from  the  manufactory  of  M.  Merck,  in  Darmstadt,  and  was 
partly  prepared  by  M.  Francis  himself;  it  was  perfectly  white,  and 
>eautifully  crystallized.  Regnault,  as  is  well  known,  found  no  nitro- 
gen in  this  compound. 


NOTE  XL.    P.  168. 
COMPOSITION  OF  QUININE. 

Liebig.*  Calculated 

CM  H12  N02. 

Carbon          .  .        .    75-76  74-39 

Hydrogen         .  .          7-52  7-25 

Nitrogen       .  .        .8-11  8-62 

Oxygen             .  .         8-62  9-74 
27 


314 


APPENDIX. 


NOTE  XLI.    P.  168. 

COMPOSITION  OF  MORPHIA. a 
Liebig.*  Regnault. 


Carbon     .  .  72-340  72-87 

Hydrogen  .  6-366  6-86 

Nitrogen  .  4-995  5-01 

Oxygen    .  .  16-299  15-26 


Calculated 

,         C35  H20  NOe 

72-41  7227 

6-84  6-73 

5-01  4-78 

15-74  16-22 


a  Ann.  der  Pharm.,  XXVI.,  23. 


NOTE  XLII.    P.  168. 

COMPOSITION  OF  CAFFEINE,  THEINE,  GUARANINE, 
THEOBROMINE,  AND  ASPARAGINE. 

Caffeine.a      Theine.J     Guaranine.c       Calculated 


Pfaff  and  Liebig.*      Jobst.  Martiua. 

Carbon       .     .    49-77  50-101  49679 

Hydrogen       .      5-33          5-214  5-139 

Nitrogen    .    .    28-78  29-009  29-180 

Oxygen      .    .    16-12  15-676  16-002 


C8H6N202 

49-798 

5-082 

28-832 

16-288 


a  Ann.  der  Pharm.,  I.,  17. 

b  Do.  XXV.,  63. 

c  Do.  XXVI.,  95. 

Guaranine  is  the  name  given  to  the  crystallized  prin- 
ciple of  the  guarana  officinalis,  till  it  was  shown  to  be 
identical  with  caffeine  and  theine,  as  the  above  analyses 
demonstrate. 

COMPOSITION  OF  THEOBROMINE.  a 

Woskroseusky.  Calculated  C9  H6  N3  O2 

46-44 
4-20 
35-85 
13-50 
a  Ann.  der  Chem.  und  Pharm.,  XLI.,  125. 


Carbon 

.    47-21 

46-97 

46-71 

Hydrogen 

.      4-53 

4-61 

4-52 

Nitrogen  . 

.    35-38 

35-38 

35-38 

Oxygen    . 

.     12-88 

13.04 

13-39 

ANALYTICAL  EVIDENCE.  315 

COMPOSITION  OF  ASPARAGINE.  a 

Liebig.*        Calculated  C8  Hs  N2  O6  +  2  HO. 

Carbon    .        •        .    32-351  32-35 

Hydrogen    .        .          6-844  6-60 

Nitrogen         .        .     18-734  18-73 

Oxygen       .        .        42-021  42-32 

a  Ann.  der  Pharm.,  VII.,  146. 


NOTE  XLIII.    P.  143,  167. 

ON  THE  CONVERSION  OF  BENZOIC  ACID  INTO 
HIPPURIC  ACID.* 

By  WILHELM  KELLER. 
(From  the  Annalen  der  Chemie  und  Pharmacie.) 

So  early  as  in  the  edition  of  Berzelius's  "Lehrbuch  der 
Chemie,"  published  in  1831,  Professor  Wohler  had  ex- 
pressed the  opinion,  that  benzoic  acid,  during  digestion, 
was  probably  converted  into  hippuric  acid.  This  opinion 
was  founded  on  an  experiment  which  he  had  made  on  the 
passage  of  benzoic  acid  into  the  urine.  He  found  in  the 
urine  of  a  dog,  which  had  eaten  half  a  drachm  of  benzoic 

*To  the  evidence  produced  by  A.  Ure,  of  the  conversion  of  benzoic 
acid  into  hippuric  acid  in  the  human  body,  M.  Keller  has  added  some 
very  decisive  proofs,  which  1  append  to  this  work  on  account  of  their 
physiological  importance.  The  experiments  of  M.  Keller  were,  made 
in  the  laboratory  of  Professor  Wohler,  at  Gottingen ;  and  they  place 
beyond  all  doubt  the  fact  that  a  non-azotized  substance  taken  in  the 
food  can  take  a  share,  by  means  of  its  elements,  in  the  act  of  trans- 
formation of  the  animal  tissues,  and  in  the  formation  of  a  secretion. 
This  fact  throws  a  clear  light  on  the  mode  of  action  of  the  greater 
number  of  remedies;  and  if  the  influence  of  caffeine  on  the  formation 
of  urea  or  uric  acid  should  admit  of  being  demonstrated  in  a  similar 
way,  we  shall  then  possess  the  key  to  the  action  of  quinine  and  of  the 
other  vegetable  alkalies.  —  /.  L. 


316  APPENDIX. 

acid  with  his  food,  an  acid  crystallizing  in  needle-shaped 
prisms,  which  had  the  general  properties  of  benzoic  acid, 
and  which  he  then  took  for  benzoic  acid.  (Tiedemann's 
Zeitschrift  fur  Physiologic,  i.,  142.)  These  crystals  were 
obviously  hippuric  acid,  as  plainly  appears  from  the  state- 
ments, that  they  had  the  aspect  of  nitre,  and,  when  sub- 
limed, left  a  residue  of  carbon.  But  at  that  time  hippuric 
acid  was  not  yet  discovered  ;  and  it  is  well  known,  that 
till  1829,  when  these  acids  were  first  distinguished  from 
each  other  by  Liebig,  it  was  uniformly  confounded  with 
benzoic  acid. 

The  recently  published  statement  of  A.  Ure,  that  he 
actually  found  hippuric  acid  in  the  urine  of  a  patient  who 
had  taken  benzoic  acid,  recalled  this  relation,  so  remark- 
able in  a  physiological  point  of  view,  and  induced  me  to 
undertake  the  following  experiments,  which,  at  the  sug- 
gestion of  Professor  Wohler,  I  made  on  myself.  The 
supposed  conversion  of  benzoic  acid  into  hippuric  acid, 
has,  by  these  experiments,  been  unequivocally  established. 

I  took,  in  the  evening  before  bedtime,  about  thirty-two 
grains  of  pure  benzoic  acid  in  syrup.  During  the  night  I 
perspired  strongly,  which  was  probably  an  effect  of  the 
acid,  as  in  general  I  am  with  great  difficulty  made  to 
transpire  profusely.  I  could  perceive  no  other  effect,  even 
when,  next  day,  I  took  the  same  dose  three  times  ;  in- 
deed, even  the  perspiration  did  not  again  occur. 

The  urine  passed  in  the  morning  had  an  uncommonly 
strong  acid  reaction,  even  after  it  had  been  evaporated, 
and  had  stood  for  twelve  hours.  It  deposited  only  the 
usual  sediment  of  earthy  salts.  But  when  it  was  mixed 
with  muriatic  acid,  and  allowed  to  stand,  there  were 


ANALYTICAL  EVIDENCE.  317 

formed  in  it  long,  prismatic,  brownish  crystals,  in  great 
quantity,  which,  even  in  this  state,  could  not  be  taken  for 
benzoic  acid.  Another  portion,  evaporated  to  the  con- 
sistence of  syrup,  formed,  when  mixed  with  muriatic  acid, 
a  magma  of  crystalline  scales.  The  crystalline  mass  was 
pressed,  dissolved  in  hot  water,  treated  with  animal  char- 
coal, and  recrystallized.  By  this  means  the  acid  was 
obtained  in  colorless  prisms,  an  inch  in  length. 

These  crystals  were  pure  hippuric  acid.  When  heated, 
they  melted  easily  ;  and  wh^n  exposed  to  a  still  stronger 
heat,  the  mass  was  carbonized,  with  a  smell  of  oil  of  bitter 
almonds,  while  benzoic  acid  sublimed.  To  remove  all 
doubts,  I  determined  the  proportion  of  carbon  in  the 
crystals,  which  I  found  to  be  60-4  per  cent.  Crystallized 
hippuric  acid,  according  to  the  formula  C18  HB  NO5  -f~  HO, 
contains  60-73  per  cent,  of  carbon  ;  crystallized  benzoic 
acid,  on  the  other  hand,  contains  69*  10  per  cent,  of  carbon. 

As  long  as  I  continued  to  take  benzoic  acid,  I  was  able 
easily  to  obtain  hippuric  acid  in  large  quantity  from  the 
urine  ;  and  since  the  benzoic  acid  seems  so  devoid  of  any 
injurious  effect  on  the  health,  it  would  be  easy  in  this  way 
to  supply  one's  self  with  large  quantities  of  hippuric  acid. 
It  would  only  be  necessary  to  engage  a  person  to  continue 
for  some  weeks  this  new  species  of  manufacture. 

It  was  of  importance  to  examine  the  urine  which  con- 
tained hippuric  acid,  in  reference  to  the  two  normal  chief 
constituents,  urea  and  uric  acid.  Both  were  contained  in 
it,  and  apparently  in  the  same  proportion  as  in  the  normal 
urine. 

The  inspissated  urine,  after  the  hippuric  acid  had  been 
separated  by  muriatic  acid,  yielded,  on  the  addition  of 
27* 


318  APPENDIX. 

nitric  acid,  a  large  quantity  of  nitrate  of  urea.  It  had 
previously  deposited  a  powder,  the  solution  of  which  in 
nitric  acid  gave,  when  evaporated  to  dryness,  the  well- 
known  purple  color  characteristic  of  uric  acid.  This  ob- 
servation is  opposed  to  the  statement  of  Ure  ;  and  he  is 
certainly  too  hasty  in  recommending  benzoic  acid  as  a 
remedy  for  the  gouty  and  calculous  concretions  of  uric 
acid.  He  seems  to  suppose  that  the  uric  acid  has  been 
employed  in  the  conversion  of  benzoic  acid  into  hippuric 
acid  ;  but  as  his  observation^  were  made  on  a  gouty  pa- 
tient, it  may  be  supposed  that  the  urine,  even  without  the 
internal  use  of  benzoic  acid,  would  have  been  found  to 
contain  no  uric  acid.  Finally,  it  is  clear  that  the  hippuric 
acid  existed  in  the  urine  in  combination  with  a  base,  be- 
cause it  only  separated  after  the  addition  of  an  acid. 

In  the  London,  Edinburgh,  and  Dublin  Philosophical 
Magazine,  for  June,  1842,  is  a  paper  by  Mr.  Garrod,  con- 
firming Dr.  Ure's  fundamental  observation.  When  from 
a  scruple  to  half  a  drachm  of  benzoic  acid  was  swallowed, 
a  copious  crop  of  crystals  of  hippuric  acid  was  obtained, 
amounting  to  from  fifteen  to  twenty-nine  grains,  by  the 
addition  of  hydrochloric  acid  to  the  urine  passed  three  or 
four  hours  afterwards.  Mr.  Garrod  states,  that  he  was 
always  able  to  obtain  a  distinct  trace  of  uric  acid  from  a 
drop  or  two  of  the  urine. 


ANALYTICAL  EVIDENCE.  319 

NOTE  (A.)    P.  165. 
ENDOSMOSE  AND  EXOSMOSE. 

If  we  place  the  lower  end  of  an  open  tube  which  has 
been  covered  with  a  thin  membrane,  such  as  a  piece  of 
moistened  bladder,  in  a  vessel  of  water,  and  pour  a  solu- 
tion of  sugar  into  the  tube,  the  water  from  the  vessel  will 
shortly  be  found  to  pass  into  the  tube,  and  the  column  of 
liquid  will  increase  in  height.  At  the  same  time,  the 
water  in  the  vessel  will  become  slightly  sweet  ;  a  small 
quantity  of  syrup  having  passed  through  the  pores  of  the 
bladder  into  the  water  without,  while  a  much  larger  por- 
tion of  water  has  entered  the  tube.  The  water  will  con- 
tinue to  enter  the  tube,  and  the  syrup  to  leave  it,  until  the 
two  liquids  are  nearly  of  the  same  density.  A  solution  of 
gum,  salt,  or  other  substances  may  be  employed  instead 
of  sugar.  If  two  solutions  be  employed,  as,  for  instance, 
sugar  or  gum  within  the  tube,  and  potash  or  soda  without, 
a  circulation  will  in  like  manner  take  place.  Instead  of 
animal  membrane,  any  vegetable  matter  with  fine  pores, 
such  as  a  thin  piece  of  wood,  or  any  porous  mineral  sub- 
stance, may  be  substituted  without  affecting  the  result. 
Dutrochet,  the  discoverer  of  these  phenomena,  gave  the 
name  of  Endosmose  to  the  inward,  and  that  of  Exosmose  to 
the  outward  movement.  He  supposed  them  to  be  due  to 
two  opposite  currents  of  electricity.  —  Dutrochet's  hypo- 
thesis has  not  been  confirmed.  It  does  not  constantly 
happen,  that  the  denser  fluid  attracts  more  of  the  thinner 
than  the  latter  does  of  the  former  ;  in  the  case  of  gases, 
especially,  the  contrary  is  seen  to  be  sometimes  the  case. 


320  APPENDIX. 

But  the  chemical  constitution  of  the  fluid,  and  its  physical 
and  chemical  relation  to  the  animal  membrane  which  it 
permeates,  seem  to  have  an  important  influence  on  the 
phenomenon. — The  phenomenon  of  the  endosmosis  of 
gases,  on  which  M.  Faust  (Amer.  Med.  Jour.  Vol.  VII. 
Froriep's  Not.  N.  646,)  has  instituted  experiments,  are 
very  remarkable.  A  bladder  half  filled  with  atmospheric 
air  being  placed  under  a  jar  containing  carbonic  acid, 
becomes  more  distended  ;  and  if  the  bladder  which  is 
placed  in  the  carbonic  acid  gas  contained  hydrogen,  it 
becomes  distended  to  bursting.  If,  on  the  contrary,  the 
jar  contains  the  lighter,  and  the  bladder  the  denser  gas, 
the  bladder  becomes  collapsed.  (Muller's  Elements  of 
Physiology,  p.  245.)  Gases  also  permeate  moist  animal 
textures,  and  will  be  absorbed  by  fluids  within  them. 
This  explains  how  gaseous  matters  can  enter  into  the 
blood  without  the  globules  of  the  blood  escaping. 


ACTION  OF  THE  HEART.    SEE  PAGE  56. 

The  contraction  (systole)  only  of  the  heart  is  an  active 
state  ;  the  dilatation  (diastole)  is  the  moment  of  repose,  in 
which  the  fibres  are  relaxed,  and  ,in  which  the  blood  is 
poured  from  the  contiguous  veins  into  the  cavities  of  the 
heart,  to  Jill  the  vacuum  consequent  on  the  relaxation  of  its 
fibres  ;  the  valves  of  the  heart  being  so  arranged  as  to 
allow  the  influx  of  the  blood  from  the  veins.  (Muller's 
Physiology,  Vol.  I.  p.  173.)  See  also  the  experiments  of 


ANALYTICAL  EVIDENCE.  321 

Sir  David  Barry,  ibid.  234,  and  those  of  Poiseuille,  ibid. 
Miiller,  although  not  admitting  to  their  full  extent  the  in- 
ferences of  Barry,  admits  that  by  the  sucking  of  the  heart, 
and  by  the  action  of  the  valves,  a  part  of  the  resistance 
which  opposes  the  course  of  the  venous  blood  is  overcome. 


EXCRETION  OF  CARBON. 

Berzelius  considers  the  quantity  of  carbonic  acid  in  all 
the  calculations,  as  given  p.  271,  to  be  too  great,  for  the 
solid  food  taken  into  the  body  contains  fths  of  its  weight  of 
water,  and  of  the  other  |th,  seldom  more  than  |  is  carbon  ; 
consequently  6|  Ibs.  of  solid  food  would  be  necessary  to 
supply  the  quantity  of  carbon  which,  according  to  these 
estimates,  is  excreted  from  the  body  by  the  lungs  in  24 
hours,  independent  of  what  is  got  rid  of  in  other  ways. 
Mulder,  1-308. 


INDEX. 


INDEX 


A. 

ACID. 

—  Acetic.     Composition;  and  relation  to  that  of  aldehyde,  267,  268. 

—  Benzole.     Composition,  and  relation  to  that  of  oil  of  bitter  almonds, 

267,  268.  Converted  into  hippuric  acid  in  the  human  body,  143, 
315. 

—  Carbonic.     Is  the  form  in  which  the  inspired  oxygen  and  the  car- 

bon of  the  food  are  given  out,  12.  Its  formation  in  the  body  the 
chief  source  of  animal  heat,  11-21.  Occurs,  combined  with  pot- 
ash and  soda,  in  the  serum  of  the  blood,  39.  Formed  by  the  action 
of  oxygen  on  the  products  of  the  metamorphosis  of  the  tissues,  59. 
Its  formation  may  also  be  connected  with  the  production  of  fat 
from  starch,  82  -  87.  Generated  by  putrefaction  of  food  in  the 
stomach  of  animals,  110.  Also  by  the  fermentation  of  bad  wine 
in  man,  when  it  causes  death  by  penetrating  into  the  lungs,  111. 
Escapes  through  both  skin  and  lungs,  ib.  Produced,  along  with 
urea,  by  the  oxidation  of  uric  acid,  133.  Produced,  with  several 
other  compounds,  by  the  oxidation  of  blood,  ib.  May  be  formed, 
along  with  choleic  acid,  from  hippuric  acid,  starch,  and  oxygen, 
145.  Also,  along  with  choleic  acid,  urea,  and  ammonia,  by  the 
action  of  water  and  oxygen  on  starch  and  proteine,  ib.  Produced, 
along  with  fat  and  urea,  from  proteine,  by  the  action  of  water  and 
oxygen,  in  the  absence  of  soda,  146.  Combines  with  the  com- 
pound of  iron  present  in  venous  blood,  and  is  given  off  when 
oxygen  is  absorbed,  257.  Is  absorbed  by  the  serum  of  blood  in 
all  states,  258. 

—  Cerelric.    Its  composition,  174.    Its  properties,  176. 

28 


326  INDEX. 

•>•• 
ACID. 

—  Choleic.     Represents  the  organic  portion  of  the  bile,  127.     Its  for- 

mula, 128.  Its  transformations,  ib.  Half  its  formula,  added  to 
that  of  urate  of  ammonia,  is  equal  to  the  formula  of  blood  -f-  a 
little  oxygen  and  water,  129.  Produced  in  the  oxidation  of  blood, 
133.  Views  which  may  be  taken  of  its  composition,  141.  May 
be  formed  by  the  action  of  oxygen  and  water  on  proteine  and 
starch,  144.  Products  of  its  oxidation,  146.  Various  ways  in 
which  it  may  be  supposed  to  be  formed  in  the  body,  152.  Its 
composition,  305.  Cannot  be  said  to  exist  ready  formed  in  the 
bile,  307. 

—  Cholic.    Its  composition,  308.    Derived  from  choleic  acid,  127,  129. 

Possible  relation  to  choleic  acid,  141. 

—  Choloidic.     Its  composition,  305.     Derived  from  choleic  acid,  128. 

Possible  relation  to  choleic  acid,  141.  Possible  relation  to  starch, 
150.  Possible  relation  to  proteine,  134. 

—  Cyanic.     Its  formula,  268. 

—  Cyanuric.     Its  formula,  268. 

—  Hippuric.     Its  composition,  309.     Appears  in  the  urine  of  stall-fed 

animals,  80.  Is  destroyed  by  exercise,  80,  132.  Is  probably 
formed  in  the  oxidation  of  blood,  133.  Is  found  in  the  human 
urine  after  benzoic  acid  has  been  administered,  143,  315.  May 
be  derived  from  proteine  when  acted  on  by  oxygen  and  uric 
acid,  144.  With  starch  and  oxygen,  it  may  produce  choleic  and 
carbonic  acids,  ib.  May  be  derived  from  the  oxidation  of  choleic 
acid,  146. 

—  Hydrocyanic  or  Prussic.     Its  poisonous  action  explained,  262. 

—  Lithqfellic.     Its  composition,  312.     Probably  derived  from  the  ox- 

idation of  choleic  acid;  is  the  chief  constituent  of  bezoar  stones, 
146. 

—  Lactic.  .  Its  composition,  298.     Its  origin,  107.     Does  not  exist  in 

the  healthy  gastric  juice,  ib. 

—  Margaric.     Exists  in  bile,  307. 

—  Muriatic.     Exists  in  the  free  state  in  the  gastric  juice,  107,  108. 

Is  derived  from  common  salt,  108,  153. 

—  Oxaluric.     Analysis  of,  311. 

—  Parabanic.     Analysis  of,  31 1. 

—  Phosphoric.    Exists  in  the  urine  of  the  carnivora  in  considerable 

quantity,  76,  155.  Its  proportion  very  small  in  that  of  the  gra- 
minivora,  76.  Derived  from  the  phosphorus  of  the  tissues,  ib. 
It  is  retained  in  the  body  to  form  bones  and  nervous  matter,  77. 


INDEX.  327 

ACID. 

—  Sulphuric.    Exists  in  the  urine  of  the  carnivora,  76,  155.     Derived 

from  the  sulphur  of  the  tissues,  76. 

—  Uric.     Its  composition,  308.     Products  of  its  oxidation,  alloxan, 

oxalic  acid,  carbonic  acid,  urea,  &c.,  131,  133.  Is  probably  de- 
rived, along  with  choleic  acid,  by  the  action  of  oxygen  and  water 
on  blood  or  muscle,  130.  Disappears  almost  entirely  in  the  sys- 
tem of  men  and  of  the  higher  animals,  54,  130.  Appears  as  cal- 
culus, when  there  is  a  deficiency  of  oxygen,  131.  Never  occurs 
in  pthisical  cases,  ib.  Yields  mulberry  calculus  when  the  quan- 
tity of  oxygen  is  somewhat  increased,  but  only  urea  and  carbonic 
acid  with  a  full  supply  of  oxygen,  ib.  Uric  acid  calculus  pro- 
moted by  the  use  of  fat  and  of  certain  wines,  133  Unknown  on 
the  Rhine,  ib.  Uric  acid  and  urea,  how  related  to  allantoine, 
134  ;  to  gelatine,  135.  Forms  the  greater  part  of  the  urine  of 
serpents,  53.  Yields,  with  the  elements  of  proteine  and  oxygen, 
hippuric  acid  and  urea,  144.  How  related  to  taurine,  148,  149. 
Calculi  of  it  never  occur  in  wild  carnivora,  but  often  in  men  who 
use  little  animal  food,  139. 
ACTION.  Of  the  heart,  120. 

AFFINITY,  Chemical.  Is  the  ultimate  cause  of  the  vital  phenomena, 
10.  Is  active  only  in  the  case  of  contact,  and  depends  much  on  the 
order  in  which  the  particles  are  arranged,  194.  Its  equilibrium 
renders  a  compound  liable  to  transformations,  196.  In  producing 
the  vital  phenomena,  it  is  modified  by  other  forces,  198.  It  is  not 
alone  the  vital  force  or  vitality,  but  is  exerted  in  subordination  to 
that  force,  221. 

Am.  Introduced  into  the  stomach  during  digestion  with  the  saliva, 
109.  Effects  of  its  temperature  and  density,  dryness,  &c.,  in  respi- 
ration, 15,  16. 

ALBUMEN.     Animal  and  vegetable  albumen  identical,  47^48.     Their 
composition,  283,  284,  21)7,  298.    Vegetable  albumen,  how  obtained, 
45.     Is  a  compound  of  proteine,  and  in  organic  composition  iden- 
tical with  fibrine  and  caseine,  47, 100,  102.     Exists  in  the  yolk  as 
well  as  the  white  of  eggs,  103.     Also  in  the  serum  of  the  blood,  39. 
Is  the  true  starting  point  of  all  the  animal  tissues,  102,  103. 
ALCOHOL.    Is  hurtful  to  carnivorous  savages,  170.    Its  mode  of  action  ; 
checks  the  change  of  matter,  228.     In  cold  climates  serves  as  an 
element  of  respiration,  21. 
ALDEHYDE.     Its  composition  ;  how  related  to  that  of  acetic  acid,  2(37, 

268. 

ALKALIES.  Mineral  alkalies  essential  both  to  vegetable  and  animal 
life,  156.  Vegetable  alkalies  all  contain  nitrogen,  all  act  on  the 


328  INDEX. 

nervous  system,  and  are  all  poisonous  in  a  moderate  dose,  172. 
Theory  of  their  action  ;  they  take  a  share  in  the  transformation  or 
production  of  nervous  matter,  for  which  they  are  adapted  by  their 
composition,  173-179.  Action  of  caustic  alkalies  on  bile,  or  cho- 
leic  acid,  127. 

ALLANTOINE.  Is  found  in  the  urine  of  the  fetal  calf.  How  derived 
from  proteine.  How  related  to  uric  acid  and  urea,  134.  How  re- 
lated to  choleic  acid,  141.  Its  composition,  309. 

ALLEN  and  PEPVS.  Their  calculation  of  the  amount  of  inspired 
oxygen,  271. 

ALLOXAN.  Formed  by  the  oxidation  of  uric  acid,  129.  Converted  by 
oxidation  into  oxalic  acid  and  urea,  oxaluric  and  parabanic  acids, 
or  carbonic  acid  and  urea,  131.  How  related  to  taurine,  148. 
Seems  to  act  as  a  diuretic,  149.  Recommended  for  experiment  in 
hepatic  diseases,  ib.  (note.) 

ALMONDS,  BITTER.  Oil  of.  Its  composition  ;  how  related  to  benzoic 
acid,  268. 

AMMONIA..  Combined  with  uric  acid  it  forms  the  urine  of  serpents, 
birds,  &c.,  53.  Its  relation  to  choleic,  choloidic,  and  cholic  acids, 
128.  Is  one  of  the  products  which  may  be  formed  by  the  oxidation 
of  blood,  133;  or  of  proteine,  145.  Its  relation  to  uric  acid,  urea, 
and  taurine,  147.  To  allantoine  and  taurine,  148.  To  alloxan  and 
taurine,  148.  To  choleic  and  choloidic  acid  and  taurine,  150.  To 
urea,  water,  and  carbonic  acid,  151.  Is  found  in  combination  with 
acids  in  the  urine  of  the  carnivora,  155. 

ANALYSIS.  Of  dry  blood,  271,  304.  Of  dried  flesh,  304.  Of  faeces, 
273.  Of  black  bread,  ib.  Of  potatoes,  ib.  Of  peas,  ib.  Of  beans, 
ib.  Of  lentils,  ib.  Of  fresh  meat,  ib.  Of  moist  bread,  ib.  Of 
moist  potatoes,  ib.  Of  the  fibrine  and  albumen  of  blood,  282,  300, 
301.  Of  vegetable  fibrine  and  albumen,  vegetable  caseine  and 
gluten,  2JJ3,  284.  Of  animal  caseine,  284.  Of  starch,  285,  286. 
Of  grape  or  starch  sugar,  ib.  Of  sugar  of  milk,  287.  Of  gum,  ib. 
Of  oats,  ib.  Of  hay,  288.  Of  fat,  289.  Of  cane-sugar,  ib.  Of 
cholesterine,  ib.  Of  wax,  296.  Of  cyanic  acid,  cyanuric  acid,  and 
cyamelide,  297.  Of  aldehyde,  metaldehyde,  and  elaldehyde,  ib. 
Of  proteine,  ib.  Of  albumen  from  the  yolk  and  white  of  egg,  298. 
Of  lactic  acid,  ib.  Of  gas  from  the  stomach  of  cows  after  eating 
to  excess,  299.  Of  gas  from  stomach  and  intestines  of  executed 
criminals,  ib.  Of  gelatinous  tissues,  301 .  Of  tissues  containing 
chondrine,  302.  Of  arterial  membrane,  ib.  Of  horny  tissues,  ib. 
Of  the  lining  membrane  of  the  egg,  303.  Of  feathers,  ib.  Of  the 
pigmentum  nigrum,  ib.  Of  choleic  acid,  305.  Of  taurine,  ib.  Of 


INDEX.  329 

choloidic  acid,  ib.  Ofcholic  acid,  308.  Of  uric  acid,  ib.  Of  al- 
loxan,  309.  Of  urea,  ib.  Of  hippuric  acid,  ib.  Of  allantoine,  ib. 
Of  xanthic  oxide,  310.  Of  cystic  oxide,  ib.  Of  oxalic  acid,  311. 
Of  oxaluric  acid,  ib.  Of  parabanic  acid,  ib.  Of  roasted  flesh,  312. 
Of  lithofellic  acid,  ib.  Of  solanine,  323.  Of  picrotoxine,  ib.  Of 
quinine,  ib.  Of  morphia,  314.  Of  caffeine,  theine,  or  guaranine, 
ib.  Of  theobromine,  ib.  Of  asparagine,  ib. 

ANIMAL  HEAT.  Derived  from  the  combination  of  oxygen  with  the 
carbon  and  hydrogen  of  the  metamorphosed  tissues,  which  proceed 
ultimately  from  the  food,  16,  17.  Is  highest  in  those  animals  whose 
respiration  is  most  active,  18.  Is  the  same  in  man  in  all  climates, 
18,  19.  Is  kept  up  by  the  food  in  proportion  to  amount  of  external 
cooling,  21.  Is  not  produced  either  by  any  direct  influence  of  the 
nerves,  or  by  muscular  contractions,  28-32.  Its  amount  in  man, 
32.  Chemical  action  the  sole  source  of  it,  36.  The  formation  of 
fat  from  starch  or  sugar  must  produce  heat,  88  -90.  The  elements 
of  the  bile,  by  combining  with  oxygen,  serve  chiefly  to  produce 
it,  59. 

ANIMAL  LIFE.  Distinguished  from  vegetable  life  by  the  absorption 
of  oxygen,  and  the  production  of  carbonic  acid,  2.  Must  not  be 
confounded  with  consciousness,  6,  7.  Conditions  necessary  to  an- 
imal life,  9,11.  Depends  on  an  equilibrium  between  waste  and 
supply,  233  -  242. 

ANTISEPTICS.  They  act  by  putting  a  stop  to  fermentation,  putrefac- 
tion, or  other  forms  of  metamorphosis,  162.  Their  action  on 
wounds  and  ulcers,  116. 

ARTERIES.  Composition  of  their  tunica  media,  312.  How  derived 
from  proteine,  121. 

ARTERIAL  BLOOD.  Conveys  oxygen  to  every  part  of  the  body,  59, 
257.  Contains  a  compound  of  iron,  most  probably  peroxide,  257. 
Yields  oxygen  in  passing  through  the  capillaries,  59, '259.  Contains 
carbonic  acid  dissolved  or  combined  with  soda,  260. 

ASPARAGINE.  Its  composition,  315.  Its  relation  to  taurine  and  bile, 
170.  Theory  of  its  action  on  the  bile,  171. 

ASSIMILATION.  In  animals  it  is  independent  of  external  influences, 
3.  Depends  on  the  presence  in  the  blood  of  compounds  of  pro- 
teine, such  as  fibrine,  albumen,  or  caseine,  38-103.  Is  more  en- 
ergetic in  the  young  than  in  the  aduH  animal,  65.  Is  also  more 
energetic  in  the  herbivora  than  in  the  carnivora,  78. 

ATMOSPHERE.     See  AIR. 

AZOTIZED  PRODUCTS.  Of  vegetable  life,  44, 167, 173.  Of  the  meta- 
morphosis of  tissues.  Necessary  for  the  formation  of  bile  in  the 
28* 


330  INDEX. 

herbivora,  150.  In  man,  157-160.  May  be  replaced  by  azotized 
vegetable  compounds,  161.  Theory  of  this,  168-172.  Of  the 
transformation  of  the  bile,  or  of  choleic  acid ;  how  related  to  the 
constituents  of  urine,  147. 

B. 

BEANS.     Composition  of,  273. 

BEER.     Forms  part  of  the  diet  of  soldiers  in  Germany,  274-277. 

BEES.     Their  power  of  forming  wax  from  honey,  290,  295. 

BENZOIC  ACID.     See  Acid,  Benzoic. 

BERTHOLLET.     His  analysis  of  oxalic  acid,  311. 

BERZELIUS.  His  analysis  of  potato  starch,  286;  of  sugar  of  milk, 
287 ;  of  gum,  ib. ;  of  cane-sugar,  289.  On  excretion  of  carbon,  321. 

BEZOAR  STONES.     See  Acid,  Lithofellic. 

BLANCHET.     His  analysis  of  solanine,  313. 

BILE.  In  the  carnivora  is  a  product  of  the  metamorphosis  of  the 
tissues,  along  with  urate  of  ammonia,  130.  May  be  represented  by 
choleate  of  soda,  with  which,  however,  it  is  not  identical,  307. 
Products  of  its  transformation,  129,  306.  Remarks  on  these,  305- 
308.  Origin  of  bile,  60,  137.  Starch,  &c.,  contribute  to  its  for- 
mation in  the  herbivora,  141,  148,  150,  152, 157.  Soda  essential  to 
it,  146, 153, 155.  Relation  of  bile  to  urine,  148.  To  starch,  150. 
To  fibrine,  130.  To  caffeine,  &c.,  asparagine,  and  theobromine, 
271.  For  the  acid  substances  derived  from  bile,  choleic,  choloidic, 
and  cholic  acids,  see  Acid,  choleic,  &c.  Yields  taurine,  128. 
Contains  cholesterine,  82,  307.  Also  stearic  and  margaric  acids, 
ib.  Its  function  :  to  support  respiration  and  produce  animal  heat 
by  presenting  carbon  and  hydrogen  in  a  very  soluble  form  to  the 
oxygen  of  the  arterial  blood,  59  -  63.  Amount  secreted  by  the  dog, 
the  horse,  and  man,  62.  It  returns  entirely  into  the  circulation, 
and  disappears  completely,  59-61. 

BLOOD.  The  fluid  from  which  every  part  of  the  body  is  formed,  8. 
Its  chief  constituents,  38.  How  formed  from  vegetable  food,  44. 
Can  only  be  formed  from  compounds  of  proteine,  47.  Is  therefore 
entirely  derived  from  vegetable  products  in  the  herbivora.  and  indi- 
rectly also  by  the  carnivora,  which  feed  on  the  flesh  of  the  former, 
48.  Its  composition  identical  with  that  of  flesh,  127.  Analysis  of 
both,  304.  The  secretions  contain  all  the  elements  of  the  blood, 
126.  Its  relation  to  bile  and  urine,  129.  Products  of  the  oxidation 
of  blood,  133.  Excess  of  azotized  food  produces  fulness  of  blood 
and  disease,  139.  Soda  is  present  in  the  blood,  153-155.  Impor- 


INDEX.  331 

tant  properties  of  the  blood,  163-166.  Venous  blood  contains 
iron,  probably  as  protoxide ;  arterial  blood,  probably  as  peroxide, 
259-261.  Theory  of  the  poisonous  action  of  sulphuretted  hydro- 
gen and  Prussic  acid ;  they  decompose  the  compound  of  iron  in 
the  blood,  262.  The  blood,  in  analogous  morbid  states,  ought  to  be 
chemically  examined,  263. 

BLOOD  LETTING.  Theory  of  its  mode  of  action,  247.  It  may  pro- 
duce opposite  effects  in  different  cases,  252. 

BOECKMANN.  His  analysis  of  black  bread,  273;  of  potatoes,  ib. ;  of 
dry  beef,  304  ;  of  dry  blood,  ib. ;  of  roasted  flesh,  312. 

BONES.  Phosphoric  acid  of  the  food  retained  to  assist  in  forming 
them,  77.  Gelatine  of  bones  digested  by  dogs,  93.  See,  further, 
Gelatine.  Cause  of  brittleness  in  bones,  96. 

BOUSSINGAULT.  His  analysis  of  potatoes,  273.  His  comparison  of  the 
food  and  excretions  in  the  horse  and  cow,  Table,  289.  His  analy- 
sis of  gluten,  283:  of  vegetable  albumen,  ib. ;  of  vegetable  case- 
ine,  283 ;  of  oats,  287  j  of  hay,  288. 

BRACONNOT.  On  the  presence  of  lactic  acid  in  gastric  juice,  107;  of 
iron  in  the  gastric  juice  of  the  dog,  108. 

BRAIN.     See  Acid,  Cerebric,  and  Nervous  Matter. 

BREAD.     Analysis  of,  273. 

BRUNN.     His  analysis  of  sugar  of  milk,  287. 

BUCKWHEAT.     Analysis  of  starch  from,  285. 

BURDACH.  His  statement  of  the  amount  of  bile  secreted  by  animals, 
62. 

BUTTER.     Forms  a  part  of  the  food  of  soldiers  in  Germany,  274. 

BUZZARD.     Its  excrements  consists  of  urate  of  ammonia,  53. 

c. 

CAFFEINE.  Identical  with  theine,  170.  Its  relation  to  taurine  and 
bile,  171.  Theory  of  its  mode  of  action,  171.  Its  composition, 
314. 

CANE  SUGAR.     Its  composition,  289. 

CARBON.  Is  accumulated  in  the  bile,  59.  Is  given  off  as  carbonic 
acid,  12.  Excess  of  carbon  causes  hepatic  diseases,  23.  By  com- 
bining with  oxygen,  it  yields  the  greater  part  of  the  animal  heat. 
See  Animal  Heat,  Bile,  and  Acid,  Carbonic.  Amount  of  carbon 
oxidized  daily  in  the  body  of  a  man,  14.  Calculations  on  which 
this  statement  is  founded,  272-291.  Amount  consumed  by  the 
horse  and  cow,  14.  Different  proportions  of  carbon  in  different 
kinds  of  food,  16.  Carbon  of  flesh  compared  with  that  of  starch, 


332  INDEX. 

showing  the  advantage  of  a  mixed  diet,  73.  Calculation  on  which 
this  statement  is  founded,  272.  Amount  of  carbon  in  dry  blood  cal- 
culated, 271.  Amount  in  the  food  of  prisoners  calculated,  282. 
Excretion  of  carbon,  321. 

CARBONIC  ACID.     See  Acid,  Carbonic. 

CARBONATES.     They  occur  in  the  blood,  39. 

CALCULUS,  Mulberry.  Derived  from  the  imperfect  oxidation  of  uric 
acid,  131.  Uric  acid  calculus  is  formed  in  consequence  of  de- 
ficiency of  inspired  oxygen,  or  excess  of  carbon  in  the  food,  131. 
See  Acid,  Uric.  Bezoar  stones  composed  of  lithofellic  acid,  146. 

CARNIVORA.  Their  nutrition  the  most  simple,  43.  It  is  ultimately 
derived  from  vegetables,  47,  48.  Their  young,  like  graminivora, 
require  non-azotized  compounds  in  their  food,  49.  Their  bile  is 
formed  from  the  metamorphosis  of  their  tissues,  57,  59.  The  pro- 
cess of  assimilation  in  adult  and  young  carnivora  compared,  65. 
Their  urine,  76.  The  assimilative  process  in  adult  carnivora  less 
energetic  than  in  graminivora,  78.  They  are  destitute  of  fat,  80. 
They  swallow  less  air  with  their  food  than  graminivora,  113.  Con- 
cretions of  uric  acid  are  never  found  in  them,  139.  Both  soda  and 
ammonia  found  in  their  urine,  155. 

CA SEINE.  One  of  the  azotized  nutritious  products  of  vegetable  life, 
46.  Abundant  in  leguminous  plants,  46.  Identical  in  organic 
composition  with  fibrine  and  albumen,  47.  Animal  caseine  found 
in  milk  and  cheese  j  identical  with  vegetable  caseine,  50.  Fur- 
nishes blood  to  the  young  animal,  51.  Is  one  of  the  plastic  ele- 
ments of  nutrition,  92.  Yields  proteine,  101,  102.  Its  relation  to 
proteine,  120.  It  contains  sulphur,  ib.  Potash  essential  to  its  pro- 
duction, 156.  Contains  more  of  the  earth  of  bones  than  blood  does, 
51.  Its  analysis,  284. 

CEREBRIC  ACID.     See  Acid,  Cerebric. 

CHANGE  OF  MATTER.     See  Metamorphosis  of  Tissues. 

CHEMICAL  ATTRACTION.     See  Affinity. 

CHEVREUL.  His  researches  on  fat,  81.  His  analysis  of  fat,  289.  Of 
cholesterine,  ib. 

CHLORIDE  OF  SODIUM.     See  Common  Salt. 

CHOLEIC  ACID.     See  Acid,  Choleic. 

CHOLESTERINE.    See  Bile. 

CHOLIC  ACID.     See  Acid,  Cholic. 

CHOLOIDIC  ACID.     See  Acid,  Choloidic. 

CHONDRINE.  Its  relation  to  proteine,  120.  Analysis  of  tissues  con- 
taining it,  302. 

CHRONIC  DISEASES.  The  action  of  inspired  oxygen  is  the  cause  of 
death  in  them,  26,  27. 


INDEX.  333 

CHYLE.  When  it  has  reached  the  thoracic  duct,  it  is  alkaline,  and 
contains  albumen  coagulable  by  heat,  138. 

CHYME.  It  is  formed  independently  of  the  vital  force,  by  a  chemical 
transformation,  105.  The  substance  which  causes  this  transforma- 
tion is  derived  from  the  living  membrane  of  the  stomach,  105. 
Chyme  is  acid,  138. 

CLOTHING.  Warm  clothing  is  a  substitute  for  food  to  a  certain  ex- 
tent, 21.  Want  of  clothing  accelerates  the  rate  of  cooling,  and  the 
respirations,  and  thus  increases  the  appetite,  ib. 

COLD.  Increases  the  appetite  by  accelerating  the  respiration,  21.  Is 
most  judiciously  employed  as  a  remedy  in  cerebral  inflammation, 
249. 

CONCRETIONS.    See  Calculus,  and  Acid,  Uric;  also,  Acid,  Lithofellic. 

CONSTITUENTS,  Jlzotized.  Of  blood  :  see  Fibrine  and  Albumen.  Of 
vegetables:  see  Fibrine,  Vegetable ;  Albumen,  Vegetable;  Caseine, 
Vegetable;  Alkalies,  Vegetable;  and  Caffeine.  Of  bile:  see  Acid, 
Choleic,  Cholic,  and  Choloidic.  Of  urine  :  see  Acid,  Uric  ;  Urea, 
and  Allantoine. 

COOLING.     See  Cold,  and  Clothing. 

COUERBE.     His  analysis  of  cholesterine,  289. 

Cow.  Amount  of  carbon  expired  by  the,  14.  Comparison  of  the 
food  with  the  excretions  of  the  cow,  280. 

CRUM.     His  analysis  of  cane-sugar,  289. 

CULTIVATION.     Is  the  economy  of  force,  75. 

CYAMELIDE.     Its  formula,  268. 

CYANIC  ACID.     See  Acid,  Cyanic. 

CYANIDE  OF  IRON.     Its  remarkable  properties,  257. 

CYANURIC  ACID.     See  Acid,  Cyanuric. 

D. 

DAVY.     Oxygen  consumed  by  an  adult  man,  271. 

DEATH.     Cause  of,  in  chronic  diseases,  26.     Caused  in  old  people  by 

a  slight  depression  of  temperature,  243.     Definition  of  it,  242. 
DEMAR<JAY.     His  analysis  of  choleic  acid,  choloidic  acid,  and  taurine, 

305.     Remarks  on  his  Researches  on  Bile,  305. 
DENIS.     His  experiments  on  the  conversion  of  fibrine  into  albumen, 

39,  40. 
DESPRETZ.     His  calculation  of  the  heat  developed  in  the  combustion 

of  carbon,  32. 
DIABETES  MELLITUS.     The  sugar  found  in  the  urine  in  this  disease 

is  grape  sugar,  and  is  derived  from  the  starch  of  the  food,  92. 


334  INDEX. 

DIASTASE.  Analogy  between  its  solvent  action  on  starch,  and  that  of 
the  gastric  juice  on  coagulated  albumen,  106. 

DIFFUSION  OF  GASES.  Explains  the  fact  that  nitrogen  is  given  out 
through  the  skin  of  animals,  113;  and  the  poisonous  action  of 
feather- white  wine,  111. 

DIGESTION.  Is  effected  without  the  aid  of  the  vital  force,  by  a  meta- 
morphosis derived  from  the  transformation  of  a  substance  proceed- 
ing from  the  lining  membrane  of  the  stomach,  105.  The  oxygen 
introduced  with  the  saliva  assists  in  the  process,  109.  Lactic  acid 
has  no  share  in  it,  107. 

DISEASE.  Theory  of,  242  et  seq.  Cause  of  death  in  chronic  disease, 
25.  Disease  of  liver  caused  by  excess  of  carbon  or  deficiency  of 
oxygen,  22.  Prevails  in  hot  weather,  23. 

DOG.  Amount  of  bile  secreted  by,  62.  Digests  the  gelatine  of  the 
bones,  94.  His  excrements  contain  only  bone  earth,  95.  Concre- 
tion of  urate  of  ammonia  said  to  have  been  found  by  Lassaigne  in  a 
dog,  doubtful,  139  (note.) 

DUMAS.  His  analysis  of  choleic  acid,  305  ;  of  choloidic  acid,  ib. ;  of 
taurine,  i&. ;  of  cholic  acid,  308  j  of  hippuric  acid,  309.  His  views 
borrowed  from  Liebig,  41. 


E. 

EGGS.  Albumen  of  the  white  and  of  the  yolk  identical,  103.  Analy- 
sis of  both,  298;  of  lining  membrane,  303.  The  fat  of  the  yolk 
may  contribute  to  the  formation  of  nervous  matter,  103.  This  fat 
contains  iron,  ib. 

ELALDEHYDE.     See  Aldehyde. 

ELEMENTS.     Of  nutrition.  92.     Of  respiration,  ib. 

EMPYREUMATICS.  They  check  transformations,  162.  Their  action 
on  ulcers,  116. 

EQUILIBRIUM.  Between  waste  and  supply  of  matter  is  the  abstract 
state  of  health,  233,  246.  Transformations  occur  in  compounds  in 
which  the  chemical  forces  are  in  unstable  equilibrium,  104. 

ETTLING.     His  analysis  of  wax,  296. 

ETTLING  and  WILL.     Their  analysis  of  lithofellic  acid,  312. 

EXCREMENTS.  Contain  little  or  no  bile  in  man  and  in  the  herbivora, 
none  at  all  in  the  dog  and  other  carnivora,  62.  Those  of  the  dog 
are  phosphate  of  lime,  95.  Those  of  serpents  are  urate  of  ammo- 
nia, 53.  Those  of  birds  also  contain  that  salt,  54.  Those  of  the 
horse  and  cow  compared  with  their  food,  279,  280. 

EXCRETION.     Of  carbon,  321. 


INDEX.  335 

EXCRETIONS.  Contain,  with  the  secretions,  the  elements  of  the  blood 
or  of  the  tissues,  126,  130.  Those  of  the  horse  and  cow  compared 
with  their  food,  279,  280.  Bile  is  not  an  excretion,  62. 

F. 

FAECES.     Analysis  of,  273. 

FAT.  Theory  of  its  production  from  starch,  when  oxygen  is  deficient, 
80  et  seq. ;  from  other  substances,  83.  The  formation  of  fat  supplies 
a  new  source  of  oxygen,  86  ;  and  produces  heat,  86  et  seq.  Maxi- 
mum of  fat,  how  obtained,  91.  Carnivora  have  no  fat,  80.  Fat  in 
stall-fed  animals,  86.  Occurs  in  some  diseases  in  the  blood,  92, 
Fat  in  the  women  of  the  East,  96.  Composition  compared  with  that 
of  sugar,  81 ,  82.  Analysis  of  fat,  289.  Disappears  in  starvation,  24. 
Is  an  element  of  respiration,  92. 

FATTENING  OF  ANIMALS.     See  Fat. 

FEATHERWHITE  WINE.     Its  poisonous  action,  111. 

FEBRILE  PAROXYSM.     Definition  of,  244. 

FEHLING.     His  analysis  of  met.aldeb.yde  and  elaldehye,  307. 

FERMENTATION.  May  be  produced  by  any  azolized  matter  in  a  state 
of  decomposition,  115.  Is  arrested  by  empyreumatics,  ib.  Is  anal- 
ogous to  digestion,  114. 

FEVER.     Theory  and  definition  of,  244. 

FIBRE.     Muscular.     See  Flesh. 

FIBRINE.  Is  an  element  of  nutrition,  92.  Animal  and  vegetable 
fibrine  are  identical,  47.  Is  a  compound  of  proteine,  102.  Its  rela- 
tion to  proteine,  121.  Convertible  into  albumen,  40.  Is  derived 
from  albumen  during  incubation,  103.  Its  analysis,  282,  283,  301. 
Vegetable  fibrine,  how  obtained,  45. 

FISHES.     Yield  phosphuretted  hydrogen,  18  (note}. 

FLESH.  Consists  chiefly  of  fibrine,  but  from  the  mixture  of  fat  and 
membrane,  has  the  same  formula  as  blood,  J27.  Analysis  of  flesh, 
304.  Amount  of  carbon  in  flesh  compared  with  that  of  starch,  74, 
288. 

FOOD.  Must  contain  both  elements  of  nutrition  and  elements  of  res- 
piration, 92.  Nutritious  food,  strictly  speaking,  is  that  alone  which 
is  capable  of  forming  blood,  38.  Whether  derived  from  animals  or 
from  vegetables,  nutritious  food  contains  proteine,  38,  101  et  seq. 
Changes  which  the  food  undergoes  in  the  organism  of  the  carniv- 
ora,  52  et  seq.  The  food  of  the  herbivora  always  contains  starch, 
sugar,  &c.,  68.  Food,  how  dissolved,  104  et  seq.  Azotized  food 
has  no  direct  influence  on  the  formation  of  uric  acid  calculus,  131. 


336  INDEX. 

Effects  of  superabundant  azotized  food,  138,  139.  Non-azolized 
food  contributes  to  the  formation  of  bile,  and  thus  to  respiration, 
140  et  seq.  Salt  must  be  added  to  the  food  of  herbivora,  in  order 
lo  yield  soda  for  the  bile,  154.  Caffeine,  &c.,  serve  as  food  for  the 
liver,  178.  The  vegetable  alkalies  may  be  viewed  as  food  for  the 
organs  which  form  the  nervous  matter,  179.  Amount  of  food  con- 
sumed by  soldiers  in  Germany,  275.  Its  analysis,  272  Food  of 
the  horse  and  cow  compared  with  their  excretions,  279,  280. 

FORMULAE.  Explanation  of  their  use,  268.  How  reduced  to  100 
parts,  269.  Formulae  of  albumen,  fibrine,  caseine,  and  animal  tis- 
sues, 120.  Formula  of  proteine,  116 ;  of  blood  and  flesh,  127;  of 
fat,  82;  of  cholesterine,  82;  of  aldehyde,  acetic  acid,  oil  of  bitter 
almonds,  and  benzoic  acid,  268;  of  cyamelide,  cyanic  acid,  and 
cyanuric  acid,  268;  of  choleic  acid,  128;  of  choloidic  acid  and 
cholic  acid,  128;  of  gelatine,  135;  of  hippuric  acid,  143;  of  litho- 
fellic  acid,  146  ;  of  taurine,  148;  of  alloxan,  148.  See  Analysis. 

FRANCIS.     His  analysis  of  picrotoxine,  313. 

FREMY.  Lameyran  and  Fremy.  Their  analysis  of  gas  from  the  ab- 
domen of  cows  after  excess  in  fresh  food,  299.  His  researches  on 
the  brain,  43,  174. 

FREQUENCY  of  the  pulse  and  respiration  in  different  animals,  18,  281. 

FRUITS.  Contain  very  little  carbon,  and  hence  are  adapted  for  food 
in  hot  climates,  16. 

G. 

GAS.  Analysis  of  gas  from  abdomen  of  cows  after  excess  in  fresh 
food,  110,  299.  Analysis  of  gas  from  the  stomach  and  intestines  of 
executed  criminals,  111,  299. 

GASTRIC  JUICE.  Contains  no  solvent  but  a  substance  in  a  state  of 
metamorphosis,  by  the  presence  of  which  the  food  is  dissolved,  104. 
Contains  free  acid,  105.  Contains  no  lactic  acid,  107.  In  the  dog 
has  been  found  to  contain  iron,  108.  See  Digestion,  Chyme,  Food. 

GAY-LUSSAC  and  THENARD.  Their  analysis  of  starch,  286  ;  of  sugar 
of  milk,  and  of  gum,  287;  of  cane-sugar,  289;  of  wax,  296;  of 
oxalic  acid,  311. 

GELATINE.  Is  derived  from  proteine,  but  is  no  longer  a  compound 
of  proteine,  and  cannot  form  blood,  122  ct  seq.  May  serve  as  food 
for  the  gelatinous  tissues,  and  thus  spare  the  stomach  of  convales- 
cents, 95,  124.  In  starvation  the  gelatinous  tissues  remain  intact, 
93.  Its  relation  to  proteine,  125.  Its  formula,  135.  Its  analysis,  301, 
302. 

GOEBEL.     His  analysis  of  gum,  287. 


INDEX.  337 

GLOBULES  of  the  blood  are  the  carriers  of  oxygen  to  all  parts  of  the 

body,  163  - 166.    They  contain  iron,  253  et  seq. 
GLUTEN.    Contains  vegetable  fibrine,  45.    Analysis  of  it,  233. 
GMELIN.     On  the  sugar  of  bile,  140. 
GOOSE.     How  fattened  to  the  utmost,  91. 
GRAMINIVORA.    See  Herbivora. 
GRAPE-SUGAR.      An  element  of  respiration,  92.     Is  identical  with 

starch  sugar  and  diabetic  sugar,  72.     Its  composition,  73.     Its  anal- 
ysis, 286. 
GROWTH,  or  increase  of  mass,  greater  in  graminivora  than  in  carniv- 

ora,  77.     Depends  on  the  blood,  38 ;  and  on  compounds  of  pro- 

teine,  102.    See  Nutrition. 
GUM.     An  element  of  respiration,  92.     Its  composition,  71.   Is  related 

to  sugar  of  milk,  ib.     Its  analysis,  287. 
GUNDLACH.     His  researches  on  the  formation  cf  wax  from  honey  of 

the  bee,  291. 

H. 

HAIR.  Analysis  of,  302.  Its  relation  to  proteine,  120.  Analysis  of 
proteine  from  hair,  298. 

HAY.    Analysis  of,  288. 

HEART.    Action  of  the,  320. 

HEPATIC  DISEASES.     Cause  of,  22. 

HERBIVORA.  Their  blood  derived  from  compounds  of  proteine  in 
their  food,  47.  But  they  require  also  for  their  support  non-azotized 
substances,  68.  These  last  assist  in  the  formation  of  their  bile,  140 
et  seq.  They  retain  the  phosphoric  acid  of  their  food  to  form  brain 
and  nervous  matter,  77.  Their  urine  contains  very  little  phospho- 
ric acid,  76.  The  energy  of  vegetative  life  in  them  is  very  great, 
78.  They  become  fat  when  stall-fed,  79. 

HESS.    His  analysis  of  wax,  296. 

HYBERNATING  ANIMALS.  Their  fat  disappears  during  the  winter 
sleep,  24.  They  secrete  bile  and  urine  during  the  same  period,  60. 

HIPPURIC  ACID.    See  Acid,  Hippuric. 

HORN.  Analysis  of,  302.  Contains  proteine  ;  its  relation  to  proteine, 
120.  Analysis  of  proteine  from  horn,  298. 

HORSE.  Amount  of  carbon  expired  by,  14.  Comparison  of  his  food 
with  his  excretions,  279.  Force  exerted  by  a  horse  in  mechanical 
motion  compared  to  that  exerted  by  a  whale,  226. 

HYDROCYANIC  ACID.     See  Acid,  Hydrocyanic. 
29 


338  INDEX. 

HYDROGEN.  By  combining  with  oxygen  contributes  to  produce  the 
animal  heat,  23. 

I. 

ICE.  Is  judiciously  employed  as  a  remedy  in  cerebral  inflammation, 
249. 

INORGANIC  constituents  of  albumen,  fibrine,  and  caseine,  39,  116,  120. 

JOBST.     His  analysis  of  theine,  314. 

JONES,  Dr.  Bence.  His  analysis  of  vegetable  fibrine,  283 ;  of  vegeta- 
ble albumen,  ib. ;  of  vegetable  caseine,  284;  of  gluten,  ib.;  of  the 
albumen  of  yolk  of  egg,  289, 300  j  of  the  albumen  of  brain,  300. 

IRON.  Is  an  essential  constituent  of  the  globules  of  the  blood,  253  el 
seq.  Is  found  in  the  fat  of  yolk  of  egg,  103.  Also  in  the  gastric 
juice  of  the  dog,  108.  Singular  properties  of  its  compounds,  256. 

ISOMERIC  BODIES.     99,  268. 

K. 

KELLER.     His  researches  on  the  conversion  of  benzole  acid  into  hip- 

puric  acid  in  the  human  body,  315. 
KIDNEYS.     They  separate  from  the  arterial  blood  the  nitrogenized 

compounds  destined  for  excretion,  76. 

L. 

LACTIC  ACID.     See  Acid,  Lactic. 

LAVOISIER.  His  calculation  of  the  amount  of  inspired  oxygen,  12, 
271. 

LEHMANN.    On  the  presence  of  lactic  acid  in  gastric  juice,  107. 

LIEBIG.  His  analysis  of  sugar  of  milk,  287  ;  of  cane  sugar,  289;  of 
aldehyde,  297 ;  of  uric  acid,  308 ;  of  hippuric  acid,  309 ;  of  qui- 
nine, 313 ;  of  morphia,  314  ;  of  asparagine,  315.  His  calculation  of 
the  carbon  daily  expired  as  carbonic  acid,  13,  272.  Table,  278. 
His  remarks  on  Demar<jay's  researches  on  bile,  305-308. 

LIEBIG  and  PFAFF.     Their  analysis  of  caffeine,  314. 

LIEBIG  and  WOHLER.  Their  analysis  of  alloxan,  309 ;  of  urea,  ib. ; 
of  allantoine,  ib.\  of  xanthic  oxide,  310  ;  of  oxaluric  acid,  311 ;  of 
parabanic  acid,  ib. 

LENTILS.  Contain  vegetable  caseine,  46.  Analysis  of,'  272,  273. 
Form  part  of  the  diet  of  soldiers  in  Germany,  275.  Table,  278. 

LIGHT.  Its  influence  on  vegetable  life  analogous  to  that  of  heat  on 
animal  life,  222. 


INDEX.  339 

LIME.     Phosphate  of.     See  Bones. 

LIVER.  It  separates  from  the  venous  blood  the  carbonized  constitu- 
ents destined  for  respiration,  57.  Diseases  of  the  liver,  how  pro- 
duced, 22.  Accumulation  of  fat  in  the  liver  of  the  goose,  91. 

M. 

MAIZE.     Analysis  of  starch  from,  286. 

MARC  HAND.  On  the  amount  of  urea  in  the  urine  of  the  dog  when 
fed  on  sugar,  60.  His  analysis  of  cholesterine,  289. 

MARCET.     His  analysis  of  gluten,  283. 

MARTIUS.     His  analysis  of  guaranine,  314. 

MECHANICAL  EFFECTS.     See  Motion. 

MEDICINE.  Definition  of  the  objects  of,  245  et  seq.  Action  of  medi- 
cinal agents,  161  et  seq. 

MENZIES.     His  calculation  of  the  amount  of  inspired  oxygen,  12,  271. 

METALDEHYDE.     See  Aldehyde. 

METAMORPHOSIS  OF  TISSUES,  99  et  seq.  In  other  parts  of  the  vol- 
ume, passim. 

MILK.  Is  the  only  natural  product  perfectly  fitted  to  sustain  life,  50. 
Contains  caseine,  ib.  Fat  (butter),  ib.  Sugar  of  milk,  ib.  Earth 
of  bones,  51.  And  potash,  156. 

MITSCHERLICH.     His  analysis  of  uric  acid,  308 ;  of  hippuric  acid,  309. 

MOMENTUM.     Offeree,  191.     Of  motion,  192. 

MORPHIA.  Contains  less  nitrogen  than  quinine,  168.  Its  analysis, 
314. 

MOTION.  Phenomena  of  motion  in  the  animal  body,  186  et  seq. 
Different  sources  of  motion,  189.  Momentum  of  motion,  191.  Mo- 
tion propagated  by  nerves,  208.  Voluntary  and  involuntary  mo- 
tions accompanied  by  a  change  of  form  and  structure  in  living 
parts,  209.  Motion  derived  from  change  of  matter,  210  et  seq.  The 
cause  of  motion  in  the  animal  body  is  a  peculiar  force,  220.  The 
sum  of  the  effects  of  motion  in  the  body  proportional  to  the  amount 
of  nitrogen  in  the  urine,  233. 

MULBERRY  CALCULUS.     See  Calculus. 

MULDER.  Discovered  proteine,  101.  His  analysis  of  fibrine  of  blood, 
282.  Of  animal  caseine,  285.  Of  proteine,  298.  Of  fibrine,  301. 
Of  gelatine,  ib.  Of  chondrine,  302. 

MUSCLE.     See  Flesh. 

MUSCULAR  FIBRE.  Its  transformation  depends  on  the  amount  of 
force  expended  in  producing  motion,  209. 


340  INDEX. 

N. 

NERVES.  Are  the  conductors  of  the  vital  force,  and  of  mechanical 
effects,  208.  Effects  of  the  disturbance  of  their  conducting  power, 
218.  They  are  not  the  source  of  animal  heat,  28. 

NERVODS  LIFE.     Distinguished  from  vegetative,  36. 

NERVOUS  MATTER.  Contains  albumen,  and  fatty  matter  of  a  pecu- 
liar kind,  43.  Vegetables  cannot  produce  it,  49.  The  fat  of  yolk 
of  egg  probably  contributes  to  its  formation,  103.  The  phosphoric 
acid  and  phosphates,  formed  in  the  metamorphosis  of  the  tissues  of 
the  herbivora,  are  retained  to  assist  in  the  formation  of  nervous  mat- 
ter, 77.  The  vegetable  alkalies  affect  the  nervous  system,  172-174. 
Composition  of  cerebric  acid,  174.  Theory  of  the  action  of  the  veg- 
etable alkalies,  175. 

NITROGEN.  Essential  to  all  organized  structures,  42,  43.  Substances 
in  the  body  which  are  destitute  of  it  not  organized,  43.  Abounds 
in  nutritious  vegetables,  45.  Nutritious  forms  in  which  it  occurs, 
ib.  et  seq.  Occurs  in  all  vegetable  poisons,  167  j  also  in  a  few  sub- 
stances which  are  neither  nutritious  nor  poisonous,  but  have  a  pecu- 
liar effect  on  the  system,  such  as  caffeine,  167  et  seq. 

NITROGENIZED.    See  Azotized. 

NoN-AzoTizED.    Constituents  of  food.     See  Starch. 

NUTRITION.  Depends  on  the  blood,  38.  On  albumen,  fibrine,  or 
caseine,  38  et  seq.  Elements  of  nutrition,  92.  Compounds  of  pro- 
teine  alone  are  nutritious,  101.  Occurs  when  the  vital  force  is 
more  powerful  than  the  opposing  chemical  forces,  188.  Theory  of 
it,  199.  Is  almost  unlimited  in  plants  from  the  absence  of  nerves, 
201.  Depends  on  the  momentum  of  force  in  each  part,  216.  De- 
pends also  on  heat,  231. 

o. 

OATS.  Amount  required  to  keep  a  horse  in  good  condition,  72.  An- 
alysis of,  287. 

OIL  OF  BITTER  ALMONDS.  Its  composition.  How  related  to  benzoic 
acid,  267,  268. 

OLD  AGE.     Characteristics  of,  236  et  seq. 

OPPERMANN.     His  analysis  of  wax,  296. 

ORGANIZED  TISSUES.  All  contain  nitrogen,  42,  43.  All  such  as  are 
destined  for  affecting  the  change  of  matter  are  full  of  small  vessels, 
212.  Their  composition,  120.  The  gelatinous  and  cellular  tissues, 


INDEX.  341 

and  the  uterus,  not  being  destined  for  that  purpose,  are  differently 
constructed,  213.    Waste  of  organized  tissues  rapid  in  carnivora,  73- 

ORGANS.  The  food  of  animals  always  consists  of  parts  of  organisms, 
2.  All  organs  in  the  body  contain  nitrogen,  42,  43.  There  must 
exist  organs  for  the  production  of  nervous  matter,  179 ;  and  the 
vegetable  alkalies  may  be  viewed  as  food  for  these  organs,  ib. 

ORIGIN.  Of  animal  heat,  16,  29.  Of  fat,  78  et  seq.  Of  the  nitrogen 
exhaled  from  the  lungs,  109  et  seq.  Of  gelatine,  121  et  seq.  Of 
uric  acid  and  urea,  129  et  seq.  Of  bile,  128,  136,  139  et  seq.  150. 
Of  hippuric  acid,  143,  315.  Of  the  chief  secretions  and  excretions, 
145.  Of  the  soda  of  the  bile,  153  et  seq.  Of  the  nitrogen  in  bile, 
1 60.  Of  nervous  matter,  1 73  et  seq. 

ORTIGOSA.     His  analysis  of  starch,  286. 

OXALIC  ACID.  A  product,  along  with  urea,  of  the  partial  oxidation 
of  uric  acid,  occurring  in  the  form  of  mulberry  calculus,  131.  Its 
analysis,  311. 

OXYGEN.  Amount  consumed  by  man  daily,  12,  271.  Amount  con- 
sumed daily  in  oxidizing  carbon  by  the  horse  and  cow,  14.  The 
absorption  of  oxygen  characterizes  animal  life,  2.  The  action  of 
oxygen  is  the  cause  of  death  in  starvation  and  in  chronic  diseases, 
24  -  26.  The  amount  of  oxygen  inspired  varies  with  the  tempera- 
ture, dryness,  and  density  of  the  air,  16.  Is  carried  by  arterial 
blood  to  all  parts  of  the  body,  163.  Fat  differs  from  sugar  and 
starch  only  in  the  amount  of  oxygen,  81.  It  also  contains  less  oxy- 
gen than  albumen,  fibrine,  &c.,  83.  The  formation  of  fat  de- 
pends on  a  deficiency  of  oxygen  85  et  seq.;  and  helps  to  sup- 
ply this  deficiency,  86.  Oxygen  essential  to  digestion,  108.  Re- 
lation of  oxygen  to  some  of  the  tissues  formed  from  proteine,  120. 
Oxygen  and  water,  added  to  blood  or  to  flesh,  yield  the  elements 
of  bile  and  of  urine,  128.  Action  of  oxygen  on  uric  acid,  129, 
132;  on  hippuric  acid,  79,  133;  on  blood,  ib. ;  on  proteine,  with 
uric  acid,  144 ;  on  proteine  and  starch,  with  water,  ib. ;  on 
choleic  acid,  146 ;  on  proteine,  with  water,  147.  By  depriving 
starch  of  oxygen  and  water,  choloidic  acid  may  be  formed, 
150.  Oxygen  is  essential  to  the  change,  of  matter,  164.  Its  action 
on  the  azotized  constituents  of  plants  when  separated,  202.  Its 
action  on  the  muscular  fibre  essential  to  the  production  of  force, 
209-215.  Oxygen  is  absorbed  by  hybernating  animals,  229.  Is 
the  cause  of  the  waste  of  matter,  231  ;  and  of  animal  heat,  232. 
Blood-letting  acts  by  diminishing  the  amount  of  oxygen  which  acts 
on  the  body,  247.  Its  absorption  is  the  cause  of  the  change  of  color 
from  venous  to  arterial  blood,  253.  The  globules  probably  contain 
29* 


342  INDEX. 

oxide  of  iron,  protoxide  in  venous  blood,  peroxide  in  arterial,  255  et 
seq.  All  parts  of  the  arterial  blood  contain  oxygen,  164, 165,  254, 
259. 


P. 

PEARS.     Analysis  of  starch  from  unripe,  286. 

PEASE.  Form  part  of  the  diet  of  soldiers  in  Germany,  272,  276. 
Abound  in  vegetable  caseine,  46.  Analysis  of  pease,  277 ;  of  starch 
from  pease,  285. 

PEPYS  and  ALLEN.  Their  calculation  of  the  amount  of  inspired  oxy- 
gen, 271. 

PEROXIDE  or  IRON.     Probably  exists  in  arterial  blood,  255  et  seq. 

PFLUGER.  His  analysis  of  the  gas  obtained  by  puncture  from  the  ab- 
domen of  cattle  after  excess  in  green  food,  299. 

PHENOMENA  of  motion  in  the  animal  body,  185  et  seq. 

PHOSPHATES.     See  Bones. 

PHOSPHORIC  ACID.     See  Acid,  Phosphoric. 

PHOSPHORUS.  Exists  in  albumen  and  fibrine,  39,  43,  120.  It  is  not 
known  in  what  form,  116  et  seq.  Is  an  essential  constituent  of 
nervous  matter,  174,  180. 

PHOSPHURETTED  HYDROGEN.  Occurs  among  the  products  of  the  pu- 
trefaction of  fishes,  180,  181. 

PICROTOXINE.     Contains  nitrogen,  168  (note).     Its  analysis,  313. 

PLANTS.  Distinguished  from  animals  by  fixing  carbon  and  giving  out 
oxygen,  2,  202;  by  the  want  of  nerves  and  of  locomotive  powers,  3. 
Their  capacity  of  growth  almost  unlimited,  219.  Cause  of  death  in 
plants,  203. 

PLAYFAIR,  DR.  L.  His  formula  for  blood,  127.  His  analysis  of 
faeces,  of  pease,  of  lentils,  of  beans,  273;  of  flesh  and  of  blood,  304  ; 
of  roasted  flesh,  312. 

POISONS,  VEGETABLE.  Always  contain  nitrogen,  167  et  seq.  Differ- 
ent kinds  of  poisons,  161.  Theory  of  the  action  of  Prussic  acid  and 
of  sulphuretted  hydrogen,  262. 

POLYMERIC  BODIES,  99. 

POTASH.    Essential  to  the  production  of  caseine  or  milk,  156. 

POTATOES.    Amount  of  carbon  in,  275.     They  form  part  of  the  diet 
of  soldiers  in  Germany,  ib.     Analysis  of,  275  ;  of  starch  from,  286; 
of  solanine  from  the  buds  of  germinating  potatoes,  313. 
PREVOST  and  DUMAS.     On  the  frequency  of  the  pulse  and  respira- 
tions, 281. 

PRODUCTS.    Of  the  metamorphosis  of  tissues  found  in  the  bile  and 


INDEX.  343 

urine,  126.  Of  the  action  of  muriatic  acid  on  bile,  127.  Of  the 
action  of  potash  on  bile,  ib.  Of  the  action  of  water  and  oxygen  on 
blood  or  fibre,  129.  Of  the  oxidation  of  uric  acid,  130.  Of  the  ox- 
idation of  blood,  133.  Of  the  action  of  water  on  proteine,  135.  Of 
the  action  of  urea  on  lactic  and  benzoic  acids,  143.  Of  oxygen  and 
uric  acid  on  proteine,  144.  Of  oxygen  on  starch  and  hippuric  acid, 
ib.  Of  oxygen  and  water  on  proteine  and  starch,  145.  Of  oxygen 
and  water  on  proteine,  when  soda  is  absent,  146.  Of  the  separation 
of  oxygen  from  starch,  149.  Of  the  action  of  water  on  urea,  151. 
Of  the  action  of  water  and  oxygen  on  caffeine  or  theine,  asparagine, 
and  theobromine,  170. 

PROTEINE.  Discovered  by  Mulder,  101.  Its  composition,  102.  Pro- 
duced alone  by  vegetables,  ib.  Is  the  source  of  all  the  organic 
azotized  constituents  of  the  body,  103.  Its  formula,  1 16.  Its  rela- 
tion to  fibrine,  albumen,  caseine,  and  all  the  animal  tissues,  120. 
Gelatine  no  longer  yields  it,  although  formed  from  it,  123.  Its  re- 
lation to  bile  and  urine,  130.  Its  relation  to  allantoine  and  cho- 
loidic  acid,  134;  to  gelatine,  135;  to  hippuric  acid,  143;  to  the 
chief  secretions  and  excretions,  144,  145  ;  to  fat,  146.  Analysis  of 
proteine  from  the  crystalline  lens,  from  albumen,  from  fibrine,  from 
hair,  from  horn,  from  vegetable  albumen  and  fibrine,  from  cheese, 
297  et  seq. 

PROUT.  His  analysis  of  starch,  286 ;  of  grape  sugar  from  honey,  ib. ; 
of  sugar  of  milk,  287 ;  of  cane  sugar,  289 ;  of  urea,  309.  His  dis- 
covery of  free  muriatic  acid  in  the  gastric  juice,  107.  On  the  effect 
of  fat  food  on  the  urine,  132. 

PRTJSSIC  ACID.     See  Acid,  Hydrocyanic. 

PULMONARY  DISEASES.  Arise  from  excess  of  oxygen,  22.  Prevail  in 
winter,  23. 

PULSE.    Its  frequency  in  different  animals,  281. 

PUTREFACTION.  Is  a  process  of  transformation,  104.  Membranes 
very  liable  to  it,  105.  Effects  of  the  putrefaction  of  green  food  in 
the  stomach  of  animals,  110.  Is  analogous  to  digestion,  114.  Pu- 
trefying animal  matters  cause  the  fermentation  of  sugar,  115.  Is 
checked  by  empyreumatics,  116,  162. 

Q. 

QUININE.     Contains  nitrogen,  168.    Its  analysis,  313. 


344  INDEX. 


R. 

REGNAULT.     His  analysis  of  morphia,  314. 

REPRODUCTION  OF  TISSUES.    See  Nutrition. 

REPRODUCTION  OF  THE  SPECIES,  37. 

RESPIRATION.    Theory  of,  263  et  seq.    Its  connexion  with  the  food 

and  with  animal  heat,  11  et  seq. 
RHENISH  WINES.     Contain  so  much  tartar,  that  their  use  prevents 

the  formation  of  uric  acid  calculus,  133. 

S. 

SALT,  Common.  Essential  to  the  formation  of  bile  in  the  herbivora, 
and  to  that  of  gastric  juice,  153  et  seq. 

SAUSSURE,  DE.  His  analysis  of  grape  sugar  and  of  starch  sugar, 
286 ;  of  wax,  296. 

SCHERER,  DR.  Jos.  His  analysis  of  albumen  from  serum  of  blood, 
282 ;  of  fibrine  of  blood,  ib. ;  of  vegetable  fibrine,  283 ;  of  vegeta- 
ble caseine,  284 ;  of  animal  caseine,  ib.  j  of  proteine  from  different 
sources,  297  ;  of  albumen  from  white  of  egg,  298 ;  of  albumen  from 
different  sources,  300 ;  of  fibrine,  301 ;  of  gelatine  from  different 
sources,  ib. ;  of  tissues  containing  chondrine,  302 ;  of  the  tunica 
media  of  arteries,  ib. ;  of  horny  tissues,  ib.;  of  the  lining  mem- 
brane of  the  egg,  303 ;  of  feathers,  ib.  ;  of  the  pigmentum  nigrum 
oculi,  ib.  Results  of  his  researches,  120, 121. 

SECRETIONS.     See  Bile  and  Urine. 

SEGUIN.     His  calculation  of  the  amount  of  inspired  oxygen,  271. 

SERPENTS.  Their  excrements  consist  of  urate  of  ammonia,  53.  The 
process  of  digestion  in  them,  53. 

SLEEP.  Theory  of,  217.  Amount  of  sleep  necessary  for  the  adult,  the 
infant,  and  the  old  man,  236  et  seq.  Induced  by  alcohol  or  wine, 
228. 

SODA.  Essential  to  blood  and  bile,  and  derived  from  common  salt, 
153  et  seq. 

SODIUM,  Chloride  of.     See  SALT. 

SOLANINE.     Contains  nitrogen,  168.     Its  analysis,  313. 

STARCH.  Exists  in  the  food  of  the  herbivora,  68.  Is  convertible 
into  sugar,  69.  Its  relation  to  gum  and  sugar,  71.  Its  function  in 
food,  ib.  et  seq.  Amount  of  carbon  in  starch  compared  with  that  in 
flesh,  73,  74.  Its  composition  compared  with  that  of  fat,  81,  86. 
Is  the  source  of  diabetic  sugar,  91.  Is  an  element  of  respiration, 


INDEX.  345 

92.  Dissolved  by  diastase,  107.  Its  relation  to  choleic  acid,  144. 
Its  relation  to  the  principal  secretions  and  excretions,  145;  to  cho- 
loidic  acid,  149;  to  bile,  150, 153, 155, 157.  Its  analysis  from  fif- 
teen different  plants,  285  et  seq. 

STARVATION.    Process  of,  24.    Cause  of  death  in,  26. 

STRECKER.     His  analysis  of  starch  from  12  different  plants,  286. 

SUGAR.  Analysis  of  grape-sugar,  286 ;  of  sugar  of  milk,  287 ;  of 
cane-sugar,  289.  Is  an  element  of  respiration,  92. 

SULPHUR.     Exists  in  albumen,  and  caseine,  39, 120. 

SULPHURETTED  HYDROGEN.    Theory  of  its  poisonous  action,  262. 

SULPHURIC  ACID.    See  Acid,  Sulphuric. 

SUPPLY  of  matter.    See  Nutrition. 

SUPPLY  and  WASTE.  Equilibrium  between  them  constitutes  the 
abstract  state  of  health,  242,  243.  Effects  of  its  disturbance,  ib.  et 
seq.  Means  for  restoring  the  equilibrium,  236,  245,  et  seq. 

T. 

TABLES  of  the  food  consumed  by  soldiers  in  Germany,  278.  Of  the 
food  and  excretions  of  the  horse  and  cow,  279,  280. 

TAURINE.  How  produced  from  bile,  127.  Its  relation  to  choleic 
acid,  128.  Its  relation  to  uric  acid  and  urea,  and  to  allantoine,  147; 
to  uric  acid ,  148  ;  to  alloxan,  z7>. ;  to  choloidic  and  choleic  acids, 
and  ammonia,  150  ;  to  caffeine,  or  theine,  170 ;  to  asparagine,  ib. ; 
to  theobromine,  il.t  171. 

TEMPERATURE.  Its  effects  on  the  amount  of  inspired  oxygen,  16, 
and  on  the  appetite,  17  et  seq.  A  slight  depression  of  temperature 
causes  death  in  aged  people,  255.  Temperature  of  the  blood  in 
different  animals,  281.  Temperature  of  the  body  constantly  kept 
up  by  internal  causes,  18-22. 

TENDONS.     Analysis  of,  301. 

THAULOW.     His  analysis  of  cystic  oxide,  310. 

THEINE.  Identical  with  caffeine,  169.  And  with  guaranine,  314. 
Theory  of  its  action,  171  et  seq.  Its  relation  to  bile,  170.  Its 
analysis,  314. 

THEOBROMINE.     Analogous   to   theine,   169.     Theory   of  its  action, 

171  et  seq.     Its  relation  to  bile,  170, 171.     Its  analysis,  314. 
THEORY.     Of  animal  heat,  16  et  seq.     Of  digestion,  104  ct  seq.    Of 

respiration,  253  et  seq.     Of  the  motions  in  the  animal  organism, 
185  et  seq.     Of  disease,  242  et  seq.     Of  the  action  of  caffeine,  &c., 

172  et  seq.    Of  the  action  of  the  vegetable  alkalies,  ib.    Of  health, 
242,  243. 


346  INDEX. 

TIEDEMANN  and  GMELIN.  Their  attempt  to  support  a  goose  upon  al- 
bumen alone,  unsuccessful,  102. 

TISSUES,  METAMORPHOSIS  OF.  See  Metamorphosis.  Analysis  of  the 
animal  tissues,  300.  Formula  of,  120. 

TOBACCO.    Arrests  or  retards  the  change  of  matter,  170. 

TRANSFORMATION.     See  Metamorphosis. 

TURNIPS.    Juice  of,  contains  vegetable  fibrine  and  albumen,  46. 

u. 

UREA.  Derived  from  uric  acid,  130,  133.  Also  from  the  oxidation 
of  blood,  133;  from  allantoine,  134.  Its  relation  to  choleic  acid, 
141:  to  hippuric  acid,  143 ;  to  proteine,  ib.  ;  to  proteine  and 
starch,  145 ;  to  proteine  and  fat,  146 ;  to  taurine,  147 ;  to  carbon- 
ate of  ammonia,  151 ;  to  theobromine,  171.  Its  analysis,  309. 
Occurs  in  the  urine  of  those  who  have  taken  benzoic  acid  along 
with  hippuric  acid,  317. 

URINARY  CALCULI.     See  Calculus. 

URIC  ACID.     See  acid,  Uric. 

V. 

VARRENTRAPP  and  WILL.  Their  analysis  of  vegetable  albumen,  283. 
Of  sulphate  of  potash  and  caseine,  284. 

VEGETABLES.  Alone  produce  compounds  of  proteine,  102.  Azotized 
constituents  of,  nutritious,  44  ;  rnedical  or  poisonous,  167.  Analy- 
sis of  those  vegetables  which  are  used  for  food,  273  et  seq. 

VEGETABLE  LIFE.  Distinguished  from  nervous  life,  36.  Predomi- 
nates in  the  early  stages  of  life,  ib.  Also  in  the  female,  37. 

VENOUS  BLOOD.     See  Blood. 

VITAL  FORCE,  or  vitality.  Definition  of,  1  et  seq.  Theory  of,  185  et 
seq. 

VOGEL.  His  analysis  of  gas  from  the  abdomen  of  cattle  after  excess 
in  green  food,  299. 

w. 

WATER.  Is  one  of  the  two  constituents  of  the  body  which  contain 
no  nitrogen,  43.  Its  use  as  a  solvent,  ib.  Contributes  to  the  great- 
er part  of  the  transformations  in  the  body,  130,  133,  134,  135,  141, 
145,  146,  147,  148,  149,  151,  170,  171. 


INDEX.  347 

WAX.  On  its  production  from  honey  by  the  bee,  290-296  Its 
analysis,  296. 

WHEAT.  Contains  vegetable  fibrine,  45.  Analysis  of  fibrine,  albu- 
men, and  gluten,  from  wheat,  283. 

WILL  and  ETTLING.     Their  analysis  of  lithofellic  acid,  312. 

WINE.  The  wines  of  the  south  promote  the  formation  of  calculus, 
133.  But  not  Rhenish  wines,  ib.  Theory  of  its  action,  228. 

WosKRESENSKy.    His  analysis  of  theobromine,  314. 

Y. 

YAMS.     Analysis  of  starch  from,  286. 


PROFESSOR   LIEBIG'S 
REPORT  ON  ORGANIC  CHEMISTRY. 


NOTICES   OF   PART  I. 
AGRICULTURAL  CHEMISTRY. 

THIS  work  has  already  acquired  great  reputation  in  Great 
Britain,  and  several  notices  and  reviews  of  it  have  appeared 
in  the  foreign  journals,  all  of  which  unite  in  expressing  their 
high  estimation  of  its  contents.  Three  lectures  have  been 
recently  delivered  on  Agriculture  at  Oxford  by  Dr.  Daubeny, 
the  distinguished  Professor  of  Chemistry  and  Botany, in  which 
he  has  illustrated  and  adopted  Professor  Liebig's  views. 


"  Every  page  contains  a  mass  of  information.  I  would 
earnestly  advise  all  practical  men,  and  all  interested  in  culti- 
vation, to  have  recourse  to  the  book  itself.  The  subject  is 
vastly  important,  and  we  cannot  estimate  how  much  may  be 
added  to  the  produce  of  our  fields  by  proceeding  on  correct 
principles."  —  LOUDON'S  Gardener's  Magazine  for  March, 
1841. 


In  alluding  to  this  work,  before  the  British  Association  for 
the  Advancement  of  Science,  Dr.  Gregory  remarked  ;  — 

"Every  thing  was  simply  and  clearly  explained.  It  was 
the  first  attempt  to  apply  the  newly  created  science  of 
Organic  Chemistry  to  Agriculture.  In  his  opinion,  from 
this  day  might  be  dated  a  new  era  in  the  art,  from  the  prin- 
ciples established  by  Professor  Liebig.  He  was  of  opinion, 
that  the  British  Association  had  just  reason  to  be  proud  of 
such  a  work,  as  originating  in  their  recommendation." 


The  following  is  from  the  address  at  the  Anniversary 
Meeting  of  the  Royal  Society,  November  30,  1840,  when 
one  of  the  Copley  medals  was  awarded  to  Professor  Liebig, 
in  presenting  which,  the  President,  the  Marquis  of  Northamp- 
ton, thus  addressed  Professor  Daniell,  who,  in  the  absence 
of  Professor  Liebig,  received  for  him  the  medal ;  — 


"  I  hold  in  my  band  and  deliver  to  you  one  of  the  Copley 
medals,  which  has  been  awarded  by  us  to  Professor  Liebig. 
My  principal  difficulty,  in  the  present  exercise  of  this,  the 
most  agreeable  part  of  rny  official  duty,  is  to  know,  whether 
to  consider  M.  Liebig's  inquiries  as  most  important  in  a 
chemical  or  in  a  physiological  light  ;  however  that  may  be, 
he  has  a  double  claim  on  the  scientific  world,  enhanced  by 
the  practical  and  useful  ends  to  which  he  has  turned  his 
discoveries." 

"It  is  the  best  book,"  writes  Mr.  Nuttall,  "ever  pub- 
lished on  Vegetable  Chemistry  as  applied  to  Agriculture, 
and  calculated  undoubtedly  to  produce  a  new  era  in  the 
science." 


Extract  from  a  letter  from  Mr.  Colman,  Commissioner  for 
the  Agricultural  Survey  of  Massachusetts,  dated  February 
15th,  1841  ;  — 

"It  is  the  most  valuable  contribution  to  Agricultural  sci- 
ence, which  has  come  within  my  knowledge.  It  takes  new 
views  on  many  subjects,  which  have  been  long  discussed 
without  any  progress  towards  determinate  conclusions  ;  and 
reveals  principles,  which  are  of  the  highest  importance. 
Some  of  these  principles  require  further  elucidation  and 
proof;  but,  in  general,  they  are  so  well  established  by  facts 
within  my  own  observation,  that  in  my  opinion  the  truth,  if 
not  already  reached,  is  not  far  distant." 


From  Silliman's  Journal,  January,  1841  ;  — 
"  It  is  not  too  much  to  say,  that  the  publication  of  Profes- 
sor Liebig's  Organic  Chemistry  of  Agriculture,  constitutes 
an  era  of  great  importance  in  the  history  of  Agricultural 
science.  Its  acceptance  as  a  standard  is  unavoidable,  for ,  fol- 
lowing closely  in  the  straight  path  of  inductive  philosophy,  the 
conclusions  which  are  drawn  from  its  data  are  incontrovertible." 
—  "To  some,  the  style  of  this  work  may  seem  somewhat 
obscure  ;  but  it  will  be  found,  on  a  re-perusal,  that  great 
condensation,  brevity,  and  terseness,  have  been  mistaken 
for  obscurity." — "We  can  truly  say,  that  we  have  never 
risen  from  the  perusal  of  a  book  with  a  more  thorough  con- 
viction of  the  profound  knowledge,  extensive  reading,  and 
practical  research  of  its  author,  and  of  the  invincible  power 
and  importance  of  its  reasonings  and  conclusions,  than  we 
have  gained  from  the  present  volume." 


In  the  notice  from  which  the  foregoing  is  extracted,  the 
learned  editors  enumerate  among  the  most  important  chap- 
ters, those  on  manure,  the  composition  of  animal  manure, 
the  essential  elements  of  manure,  bone  manure,  the  supply 
of  nitrogen  by  animal  matter,  mode  of  applying  urine,  value 
of  human  excrements,  &c. 

The  Second  Part  of  the  work  is  a  masterpiece  of  con- 
densed reasoning  on  chemical  transformations,  fermentation, 
decay,  and  putrefaction,  and  on  contagion,  poisons,  and 
miasms. 

From  the  Farmer's  Register,  Petersburg,  Va.,  August, 
1841  ;  — 

"This  work  of  Professor  Liebig  has  received  more  re- 
spectful attention  and  applause,  than  any  on  Agriculture  that 
has  issued  from  the  press." —  "No  work  have  we  yet  seen 
that  furnished  to  Agriculturists  a  more  abundant  store  of 
scientific  facts."  —  "  We  earnestly  recommend  to  scientific 
Agriculturists  and  to  Chemists  to  study  Liebig." 


"  By  the  perusal  of  such  works  as  this,  the  farmer  need  no 
longer  be  groping  in  the  dark,  and  liable  to  mistakes  ;  nor 
would  the  not  unnatural  odium  of  farming  by  the  book,  be 
longer  existent. 

"  In  conclusion,  we  recommend  the  work  to  the  Agricul- 
turist and  to  the  Horticulturist,  to  the  amateur  florist,  and  to 
the  curious  student  into  the  mysteries  of  organic  life,  —  as- 
sured that  they  will  find  matter  of  interest  and  of  profit  in 
their  several  tastes  and  pursuits." — HOVEY'S  Magazine  of 
Horticulture ,  &c.,  September,  1841. 


"  We  regard  the  work  of  Liebig  as  a  work  of  extraordinary 
philosophical  acumen,  and  conferring  upon  him  the  highest 
honor.  The  more  it  is  examined,  the  deeper  will  be  the  inter- 
est which  it  will  create,  and  the  stronger  the  admiration  of  the 
ability  with  which  it  is  written.  It  is  not  a  work  to  be  read, 
but  studied  ;  and  if  further  inquiries  and  experiments  should 
demonstrate,  as  seems  to  us  from  many  facts  within  our  own 
knowledge  in  the  highest  degree  probable,  the  soundness  of 
his  views,  his  work,  not  merely  as  a  matter  of  the  most  inter- 
esting philosophical  inquiry,  but  of  the  highest  practical  utili- 
ty, will  be  invaluable." — North  American  Review,  July,  1841. 


"  Dr.  Webster  has  rendered  an  important  service  to  the  agricul 
tural  community,  by  presenting1  an  edition  of  this  now  well  known 
and  highly  esteemed  work.     Professor  Liebig  has  for  some  time 
been  known  as  one  of  the  most  eminent  chemists  of  Europe,  and  th< 
publication  of  this  work  in  England  has  excited  general  and  unqual 
ified  approbation.     Almost  all  the  scientific  and  literary  periodicals 
have  been  loud  in  its  praise,  and  all  concur  in  the  opinion,  that  a 
new  era  in  agriculture  must  date  from  its  appearance.  The  presen 
edition  has  been  greatly  increased  in  value  and  utility  by  the  addi 
tions  which  it  has  received  from  the  American  editor.     The  Notes 
and  Appendix  contain  much  important  information  for  the  agricul 
turist,  and  the  explanations  which  have  been   added  of  chemica 
terms,  render  it  intelligible  to  all.  It  should  be  in  the  hands  of  every 
fanner.     The  typography  and  general  appearance  of  the  volume  is 
such  as  might  be  expected  from  the  University  Press."  —  Christian 
Examiner,  July,  1841. 

"  In  the  present  work,  Dr.  L.  has  pointed  out  the  path  to 
be  pursued,  and  has  amply  vindicated  the  claim  of  science  to 
be  considered  the  best  guide,  by  correcting  the  erroneous 
views  hitherto  prevailing,  of  the  sources  whence  plants  derive 
their  nourishment,  by  developing  the  true  causes  of  fertility 
in  soils,  and  finally,  by  establishing,  on  a  firm  basis,  the  true 
doctrine  of  manures." —  Quarterly  Review,  March,  1842. 


NOTICE  OF  PART  II. 
ANIMAL  CHEMISTRY. 

"While  we  have  given  but  a  very  imperfect  sketch  of  this  origi- 
nal and  profound  work,  we  have  endeavored  to  convey  to  the  read- 
er some  notion  of  the  rich  store  of  interesting  matter  which  it  con- 
tains. The  chemist,  the  physiologist,  the  medical  man,  and  the 
agriculturist,  will  all  find  in  this  volume  many  new  ideas  and  many 
useful  practical  remarks.  It  is  the  first  specimen  of  what  modern 
organic  chemistry  is  capable  of  doing  for  physiology;  and  we  have 
no  doubt  that,  from  its  appearance,  physiology  will  date  a  new  era 
in  her  advance.  We  have  reason  to  know  that  the  work,  when  in 
progress,  at  all  events  the  more  important  parts  of  it,  were  submit- 
ted to  Mtiller  of  Berlin,  Tiedernann  of  Heidelberg,  and  Wagner  of 
Gottingen,  the  most  distinguished  physiologists  of  Germany ;  and 
without  inferring  that  these  gentlemen  are  in  any  way  pledged  to 
the  author's  opinions,  we  may  confidently  state  that  there  is  but  one 
feeling  among  them  as  to  the  vast  importance  of  Chemistry  to  Phys- 
iology at  the  present  period  ;  and  that  they  are  much  gratified  to 
see  the  subject  in  such  able  hands."  —  Quarterly  Review. 


THE 

HISTORY  OF  HARVARD  UNIVERSITY. 

BY  JOSTAH   QUINCY,  LL.  D., 

PRESIDENT    OF    THE    UNIVERSITY. 

CAMBRIDGE: 
PUBLISHED  BY  JOHN  OWEN. 

[Royal  8vo.    Vols.  I.  and  II.    pp.  612  and  728.] 
21  ENGRAVINGS. 


"  This  History  is  a  monument  of  patient  and  unwearied 
investigation,  —  of  rigid  impartiality  and  discrimination  in 
deductions  from  time-worn  records.  It  embraces  the  events 
of  two  centuries,  and  historical  and  biographical  notices  of 
nearly  every  individual  whose  name  is  found  connected  with 
any  important  incident  in  the  annals  of  the  University."  — 
Boston  Courier. 

"There  is  no  hazard  in  saying,  that  this  work  is  rich  in 
materials,  many  of  which  have  escaped  the  notice  of  even 
extensive  readers,  and  that  it  bears  marks  of  thorough  re- 
search, and  great  care  in  the  collection  and  verification  of 
facts,  and  judgment  and  skill  in  the  arrangement  and  devel- 
opement  of  the  narrative."  —  Daily  Advertiser. 

((  The  American  press  has  rarely,  if  ever  before,  sent 
forth  two  such  beautiful  volumes  in  typographical  execution, 
as  these,  containing  an  admirable  and  interesting  history  of 
the  venerable  University  of  Cambridge.  To  the  numerous 
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—  Neiv  York  American. 

."The  history  of  the  University  is  now  written;    and  it 
needs  no  prophetic  sagacity  or  boldness  to  assert,  that  it  will 


6 

endure.  For  the  indefatigable  diligence  and  learned  re- 
search with  which  the  materials  have  been  assembled  ;  for 
the  fullness,  candor,  and  impartiality,  with  which  they  are 
now  exhibited  ;  for  the  light  reflected  thus  on  the  history, 
not  only  of  the  College,  but  of  the  times  ;  in  fine,  for  what 
he  has  here  done  to  establish  the  claims  of  Harvard  College, 
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veneration  of  her  sons  in  all  coming  time,  —  we  offer  him, 
in  their  name,  nor  will  they  deem  it  presumptuous,  our  cor- 
dial thanks." —  Christian  Examiner. 

"We  expected  to  find  in  these  volumes  the  authentic  re- 
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confess  we  did  not  expect  to  find  them  so  fruitful  in  enter- 
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well  as.  (to  a  patriot)  complacent  reflection.  We  did  not 
expect  to  see  a  record  of  the  fortunes  of  a  single  institution 
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The  whole  net  proceeds  of  the  sale  of  these  volumes  will 
be  devoted  to  assist  indigent  students. 


WORKS  RECENTLY  PUBLISHED  BY 

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PROF.  LIEBIG'S  REPORT  ON  ORGANIC  CHEMISTRY. 

PART  I. 

AGRICULTURAL   CHEMISTRY. 

CHEMISTRY  in  its  Application  to  Agriculture  and  Physiology 
By  JUSTUS  LIEBIG,  M.  D.,  Ph.  D.,  F.  R.  S.,  M.  R.  I.  A.,  Professor  of 
Chemistry  in  the  University  of  Giessen,  &c.  Edited  from  the 
Manuscript  of  the  Author,  by  LYON  PLAYFAIR,  Ph.  D.  With 
numerous  Additions,  and  a  New  Chapter  on  Soils.  Third  Ameri- 
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8 

PART  II. 
ANIMAL   CHEMISTRY. 

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F.  R.  S.,  M.  R.  I.  A.,  Professor  of  Chemistry  in  the  University  of 
Giessen,  &c.  Edited  from  the  Author's  Manuscript,  by  WILLIAM 
GREGORY,  M.  D.,  F.  R.  S.  E.,  M.  R.  I.  A.,  Professor  of  Medicine 
and  Chemistry  in  the  University  and  King's  College,  Aberdeen. 
With  Additions,  Notes,  and  Corrections,  by  Dr.  GREGORY,  and 
others  by  JOHN  W.  WEBSTER,  M.D.,  Erving  Professor  of  Chem 
istry  in  Harvard  University.  1  vol. 


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completion  of  the  work).  8vo. 


Reply  to  a  "  NOTICE  "  of  Messrs.  WILEY  &  PUTNAM,  publishers 
of  the  unauthorized  reprint  of  the  Second  Part  of  Professor 
Liebig's  Report  on  Organic  Chemistry,  published  in  the  "  Bos- 
ton Daily  Advertiser,"  of  August  16,  and  in  other  newspapers. 

THE  First  Part  of  Professor  Liebig's  Report  on  Organic 
Chemistry,  drawn  up  at  the  request  of  the  British  Association, 
has  passed  to  a  third  edition  in  this  country,  having  been  pub- 
lished by  Mr.  John  Owen,  of  Cambridge.  That  the  publisher 
of  the  First  Part  of  this  Report  would  make  arrangements  for 
publishing  the  Second,  namely,  the  Animal  Chemistry,  was  to 
be  expected,  both  by  the  "  trade  "  and  the  public. 

From  the  care  bestowed  upon  the  republication  of  the  First 
Part,  the  author  and  translator  were  desirous  that  the  Second 
should  appear  from  the  same  press,  under  the  supervision  of  the 
editor  of  the  first,  and  arrangements  were  accordingly  made. 

The  arrangements,  and  the  wishes  of  the  translator  and  author 
were  duly  announced!  in  the  "  Boston  Medical  Journal,"  in  the 
newspapers,  and  by  a  circular  of  the  editor. 

In  April,  Messrs.  Carey  and  Hart,  of  Philadelphia,  announced 
their  intention  of  republishing  the  new  work  of  Professor  Liebig. 
On  being  informed  of  the  wishes  of  the  author  and  translator, 
they,  at  once,  courteously  relinquished  their  undertaking. 

Regardless  of  the  usages  of  the  trade,  and  of  the  published 
wishes  of  the  author  and  translator,  Messrs.  Wiley  and  Putnam, 
of  New  York,  with  all  possible  despatch,  republished  the  work, 
from  a  London  copy,  with  all  the  errors  of  the  London  press, 
and  others  in  addition. 

The  editor,  to  whom  the  care  of  the  republication  in  this 
country  had  been  committed  by  Dr.  Gregory,  deemed  it  his  duty 
to  make  known  the  fact,  that  the  New  York  reprint  was  in- 
correct. 


As  was  to  be  expected,  the  public  were  disinclined  to  pur- 
chase the  New  York  edition,  and  as  more  than  one  of  the  trade 
disapproved  of  the  interference,  Messrs.  Wiley  and  Putnam 
issued  their  "  Notice,"  or,  what  would  be  more  correctly  termed, 
an  apology  to  the  trade. 

Tn  this  "  Notice,"  assertions  are  made,  which  are  entirely 
without  foundation.  This  would  have  been  proved  to  the  sat- 
isfaction of  all,  before  this,  had  the  editor  not  preferred  to  wait 
for  evidence.  It  has  now  come  to  hand,  and  has,  moreover, 
been  confirmed  by  a  gentleman,  who  has  long  been  intimately 
connected  with  the  British  Association,  and  who  is  thoroughly 
familiar  with  all  its  rules  and  customs.  But  upon  the  pub- 
lished evidence  alone,  contained  in  the  annual  volumes  of  the 
Association,  the  assertions  of  Messrs.  Wiley  and  Putnam  will  be 
seen  to  have  no  foundation. 

Messrs.  Wiley  and  Putnam  published  their  edition,  with  a 
notice  attached  to  it, that  it  was  "faithfully  copied  from  the  Lon- 
don edition."  This  is  freely  admitted,  and  a  more  certain  meth- 
od of  diminishing  its  value  could  hardly  have  been  found,  than 
that  of  pasting  in  each  copy  this  certificate  by  themselves,  that 
their  book  contains  all  the  errors  of  the  London  press, —  a 
press  from  which,  scientific  works,  especially  where  figures  are 
concerned,  are  so  often  admitted  by  the  authors  themselves  to 
be  incorrect.  We  have  an  example  in  Turner's  Chemistry,  a 
book  in  the  hands  of  every  Chemist  in  this  country ;  it  was  not 
until  after  the  many  and  laborious  corrections  of  the  accom- 
plished editor  of  the  American  edition,  that  it  could  be  relied 
upon. 

In  their  "Notice,"  Messrs.  Wiley  and  Putnam  say,  "the  work 
being  prepared  at  the  request  of,  and  paid  for  by,  the  British 
Association,  &c.,  could  not  be,  and  was  not  published,  until  pre- 
sented to,  and  read  before  the  Association,  which  was  done  on 
the  24th  of  June.  (See  « Athenaeum,1  July  2d.)" 

There  is  not  the  slightest  foundation  for  this  positive  asser- 
tion,—  the  book  was  not  read,  nor  was  it  paid  for,  by  the  Asso- 
ciation. On  referring  to  the  "  Athenaeum"  of  July  2d,  what  do 
we  read  in  the  account  of  the  proceedings  of  the  Association? 


Why,  that  Dr.  Lyon  Playfair  read  an  Abstract  of  Professor 
Liebig's  Report !  An  abstract,  merely,  —  not  the  book  ;  not  a 
volume  of  more  than  three  hundred  pages !  but  an  abstract, 

which  is  given  in  the  "  Athenseum,"  of  which  it  occupies two 

pages.  The  Association,  undoubtedly,  had  time  to  listen  to  this 
abstract,  but  not  to  an  octavo  volume,  with  all  its  figures  and 
calculations.  Indeed,  Dr.  Playfair  expressly  says,  that  of  parts, 
and  important  parts,  of  the  Report  he  "  dared  not  venture  to 
make  an  abstract."  (Vide  London  "  Athenaeum,"  July  2d.)  So 
much  foundation  is  there  for  this  unfortunately  positive  assertion 
of  Messrs.  Wiley  and  Putnam. 

Again,  Messrs.  Wiley  and  Putnam  assert,  with  equal  positive- 
ness,  that  the  Report  of  Professor  Liebig  "  was-  purchased  by 
the  Association."  They  had  less,  if  possible,  of  foundation  for 
this  assertion.  In  the  first  place,  all  who  are  conversant  with 
the  proceedings,  rules,  and  customs  of  the  Association,  know 
that  this  cannot  be  true.  The  Association  appropriate  funds 
for  the  prosecution  of  some  scientific  researches,  for  necessary 
apparatus,  &c.  In  the  Annual  Reports,  all  such  appropria- 
tions are  particularly  designated,  and  in  the  Treasurer's  An- 
nual Statement,  all  sums  so  employed  and  paid,  are  noted. 
From  the  examination  of  these  documents,  from  the  time 
Professor  Liebig  was  requested  to  draw  up  this  Report,  name- 
ly, in  1838,  not  a  shilling  appears  to  have  been  appropriated 
for  defraying  the  expense-  or  to  have  been  paid  to  Professor 
Liebig.  These  documents  are  accessible  to  all. 

On  this  point,  too,  evidence,  has  been  obtained  from  the  dis- 
tinguished member  of  the  Association  already  alluded  to,  who 
has  held  the  office  of  Vice  President  in  the  Association,  and  been 
a  member  of  its  Council.  Not  only  has  he  confirmed  the  infer- 
ences previously  drawn  from  the  volumes  of  the  Association, 
but  supplied  additional  evidence,  that  payment  could  not  have 
been  made,  or  the  Report  published,  at  the  cost  of  the  Associa- 
tion. The  only  Reports  published  at  the  cost  of  the  Association 
are  those  contained  in  the  annual  volume.  Up  to  the  latest 
date,  nothing  appears  from  which  Messrs.  Wiley  and  Putnam 
could,  in  the  slightest  degree,  be  authorized  to  say,  that  pay- 


ment  was  made  to  Professor  Liebig,  or  the  translator ;  but  all 
the  evidence  is  wholly  the  other  way. 

So  much  for  the  foundation  of  the  assertion  that  Professor 
Liebig  "  was  paid  "  for  his  Report,  and  that  it  was  "  generously 
given,"  by  the  British  Association,  "to  the  world." 

To  return  to  the  Abstract  of  Dr.  Playfair.  It  was,  no  doubt, 
prepared  from  the  German  original ;  not  from  Dr.  Gregory's 
translation.  Of  this  abstract,  the  editor  of  the  Cambridge  edi- 
tion had  been  already  informed  by  Dr.  Gregory,  in  one  of  his 
letters.  The  abstract  was  read  on  the  24th  of  June.  Messrs. 
Wiley  and  Putnam  positively  assert,  that  the  book  (that  is, 
Dr.  Gregory's  translation),  was  not,  and  could  not  be  published, 
until  the  24th  of  June.  This  it  is  not  necessary  now  to  dispute  ; 
it  may,  however,  be  worth  while  to  state,  that  a  medical  friend, 
being  in  London,  actually  purchased  a  copy  "  at  open  sale  "  on 
the  23d !  But,  even  admitting  that  what  Messrs.  Wiley  and 
Putnam  say  is  correct,  how  could  Dr.  Playfair  have  found  time 
to  read,  much  less  to  study,  the  book  in  its  English  dress,  to 
write  his  abstract  and  to  read  it  on  the  very  day  of  publication  ? 
He  had  obviously  made  use  of  the  German  original.  Further- 
more, on  the  30th  of  June,  Dr.  Gregory  writes  :  "  The  new 
work  has  been  received  in  Germany  with  enthusiasm."  The 
work,  then,  must  have  been  published  in  Germany,  before  the 
time,  when  only  (according  to  Messrs.  Wiley  and  Putnam),  it 
could  have  been  published,  not  in  London  alone,  but  in  the  world, 
namely,  June  24th.  But  it  seems  it  had  been  published  on  the 
continent,  had  been  read  and  admired,  and  sufficient  time  had 
elapsed  for  Dr.  Gregory  to  learn  that  it  had  created  a  sensation 
in  Germany. 

Messrs.  Wiley  and  Putnam  undertake  to  decide,  that  Professor 
Liebig  had  "  no  power  to  authorize  the  republication  of  his  work 
any  where."  This  they  infer  from  their  previous  assertion,  that 
it  had  been  "  purchased  from  him  by  the  Association."  Having 
shown,  that  there  could  have  been  no  purchase,  this  inference 
has  no  foundation.  Besides,  by  a  standing  Rule  of  the  Associ- 
ation, even  had  the  work  been  purchased  by  the  Association,  the 
author  might  have  retained  his  right  of  property  in  it,  and  his 


power  to  authorize  the  publication  of  it,  when  and  where  he 
chose.  The  Rule  is  as  follows ;  "  The  author  of  any  paper  or 
communication  shall  be  at  liberty  to  reserve  his  right  of  prop- 
erty therein."  (Vide  any  of  the  volumes  of  the  Reports  of  the 
British  Association.) 

That  the  author  had  this  right,  and  that  he  exercised  it,  is  ap- 
parent from  the  work  having  been  published  in  Germany.  And 
the  translator  had  the  same  right  over  his  translation.  The  as- 
sertion, that  the  author  had  no  power  to  authorize  the  republica- 
tion,  is  but  a  feeble  apology  for  interference  with  the  wishes  of 
the  author,  and,  like  the  other  assertions,  has  no  foundation  in 
fact. 

It  seems  hardly  worth  while  to  attend  to  the  insinuations  in 
Messrs.  Wiley  and  Putnam's  "  Notice,"  since  any  effect  they 
were  designed  to  produce,  has  been  so  completely  dissipated  by 
the  pithy  reply  of  Mr.  Owen,  and  the  statement  of  the  printers, 
which  was  published  in  the  newspapers,  and  is  given  below.* 

Messrs.  Wiley  and  Putnam  endeavor  in  their  "  notice "  to 
convey  an  impression,  that  the  Cambridge  edition  was  printed, 

*  As  I  understand  from  the  Booksellers,  that  the  public  are  disposed 
to  wait  for  the  appearance  of  the  Cambridge  edition  of  Liebig's  new 
Work  on  Animal  Chemistry,  I  should  have  no  motive  again  to  call  at- 
tention to  the  subject,  except  to  reply  to  the  insinuation  of  the  pub- 
lishers of  the  New  York  edition,  that  theirs  will  be  used  in  revising 
mine.  The  following  statement  of  the  printers  may  serve  to  show 
from  what  source  the  revision  of  my  edition  will  be  made. 

J.  OWEN. 

Cambridge,  August  17, 1842. 

More  than  one  half  the  pages  of  Liebig's  Animal  Chemistry,  now 
printing  at  our  press,  was  in  type  before  the  publication  of  the  New 
York  edition.  The  printing  was  commenced  and  has  been  entirely 
done  from  manuscript,  and  the  corrected  sheets  sent  out  by  the  trans- 
lator, Dr.  Gregory.  In  no  instance  has  the  New  York  edition  been 
used  as  copy  or  to  "  revise  "  the  proofs. 

METCALF,  KEITH,  &  NICHOLS, 

Printers  to  the  University. 
Cambridge,  August  17, 1842. 


at  least  in  part,  from  "  early  proofs,"  and  that  the  delay  in  the 
arrival  of  the  other  sheets,  and  with  corrections,  rendered  that 
edition  the  only  incorrect  one.  Whence  they  got  the  notion  is 
unknown,  the  term  "  early  proofs "  was  not  used  in  any  an- 
nouncement of  the  Cambridge  edition  ;  if,  in  any  notice  of  that 
edition  from  other  hands,  the  term  has  been  used,  it  is  unknown 
to  the  editor.  So  far  from  "  early  proofs  "  having  been  sent  out 
by  Dr.  Gregory,  he  expressly  says,  in  his  letter  of  May  14th, 
"  he  does  not  send  such,  being  obliged  to  keep  them  in  order 
to  introduce  some  essential  alterations  expected  daily  from 
Professor  Liebig."  With  the  sheets  sent  on  the  17th  of  June, 
he  writes,  "I  send  the  sheets,"  (not  early  proofs)  "  before  publi- 
cation" And  in  another  place  he  writes,  "  you  will  see  that 
up  to  page  224,  the  sheets  are  printed  off,  the  rest  being  last 
proofs"  He  then  speaks  of  the  cancelled  sheets,  which  he  also 
sends.  Not  only  were  the  printed  sheets,  but  also  the  cancels, 
the  last  proofs,  and  the  manuscript  matter  received,  but  receiv- 
ed before  any  copy  of  the  work,  or  of  any  part  of  it,  reached 
New  York.  Mr.  Owen,  too,  was  in  possession  of  a  copy  of  the 
London  edition,  the  first  received  in  this  country.  It  was  in  his 
hands,  and  in  those  of  several  other  persons  here,  before  Wiley 
and  Putnam  could  have  received  their  copy.  It  was  purchased 
in  London  at  "  open  sale  "  no  fewer  than  nine  days  prior  to  the 
purchase  of  Wiley  and  Putnam's  copy.  So  far,  then,  as  the 
usages  of  the  trade  are  to  be  taken  into  account,  Mr.  Owen  had 
still  another  claim  to  become  the  publisher,  in  addition  to  that 
arising  from  his  publication  of  the  First  Part  of  the  Report. 

Messrs.  Wiley  and  Putnam  say,  that  no  announcement  was 
made  in  London,  as  late  as  July  19th,  of  any  other  edition,  nor 
was  there  any  intimation,  that  the  edition  was  incorrect.  Hence, 
they  say,  our  reprint  must  be  correct,  for  it  is  faithfully  copied 
from  the  London  edition.  No  one  doubts  that  it  is  a  faithful 
copy,  —  not  an  error  has  been  corrected. 

Another  assertion,  —  we  will  not  call  it  designed  misrepresen- 
tation, of  Wiley  and  Putnam  is,  that  the  editor  of  the  Cam- 
bridge edition,  "  wishes  us  to  believe,  that  the  corrections  were 
withheld  from  the  English  edition  for  the  express  purpose  of 


making  his  the  only  perfect  copy,  not  only  in  America,  but  in 
the  world."  In  refutation  of  this  misrepresentation  it  will  only 
be  necessary  to  quote  the  words  of  the  circular  announcing  the 
fact,  that  corrections,  &c.  would  be  furnished  by  the  translator  ; 
the  words  are,  "  The  American  edition  will  comprise  all  the 
corrections  and  additions,  which  are  most  important:" — <;  the 
author  and  editor  have  committed  the  corrected  sheets  to  the 
care  of  the  subscriber."  "  The  only  correct  edition  will  be  that 
now  printing  at  Cambridge."  This,  taken  in  connexion  with 
what  is  stated  on  the  first  page  of  the  circular,  and  the  whole 
relating  to  the  Cambridge  edition,  or  to  an  American  edition, 
renders  the  meaning  sufficiently  apparent.  Nothing  is  said  or 
implied  in  relation  to  any  other  edition  "  in  the  world."  The 
impression  intended  was,  most  obviously,  that  the  Cambridge 
edition  would  be  more  correct  than  the  London  edition,  or  any 
other  edition  printing  at  the  time  in  this  country.  It  would 
have  been  no  perversion  of  language,  however,  to  have  said, 
that  the  New  York  reprint  is  the  most  incorrect  "  not  only  in 
America,  but"  (as  far  as  we  yet  know)  "  in  the  world." 

It  appears  that  Mr.  Owen  had  the  earliest  copy  of  the  work, 
and  he  had  more  than  one  half  of  it  in  type  before  the  New  York 
publication  appeared  ;  he  had  corrections,  and  matter  not  con- 
tained in  the  London  copies  ;  he  had  the  sheets,  the  cancels, 
corrected  last  proofs,  and  manuscript,  and  the  Cambridge  edi- 
tion had  been  announced  by  circular  and  in  the  newspapers. 
The  fact  had  also  been  made  known  that  the  Cambridge  edition 
was  printing  in  compliance  with  the  wishes  of  those  to  whom 
both  the  original  and  the  translation  belonged,  and  who  had  an 
undoubted  right  to  authorize  the  republication. 

Messrs.  Wiley  and  Putnam  would  have  the  public  and  the 
trade  believe,  that  they  were  not  aware  that  the  republication 
had  been  undertaken  by  any  other  publisher.  It  was  long 
known  to  the  trade,  had  been  sufficiently  announced,  and  one 
of  the  firm  was  at  Boston  and  Cambridge  after  the  printing  had 
been  commenced  at.  Cambridge.  Is  it  to  be  supposed,  that  in 
his  interviews  with  the  booksellers  in  Boston,  and  elsewhere  in 
the  vicinity,  nothing  was  seen  or  heard  of  the  republication  ? 


8 

ft  Until  some  protection  is  extended  by  the  law  to  the  literary, 
as  it  is  to  the  personal  property,  of  foreign  authors,  they  can 
expect  but  little  regard  to  their  wishes  and  arrangements  for 
the  republication  of  their  works,  and  even  the  usages  of  the 
trade  will  not  always  shield  the  publisher  from  interference. 

J.  W.  W. 
Cambridge,  August  29,  1842. 


RETURN    BIOSCIENCE  &  NATURAL  RESOURCES  LIBRARY 

^-     2101  VALLEY  LIFE  SCIENCES  BLDG.     642-2531 


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